this is g w news live from berlin a landmark for the world's strongest military alliance nato marks its seventieth anniversary as president offers warm words for the alliances leader and the rebuke for germany. also coming up i dare you to address me that is the challenge from venezuela self-proclaimed president won by you know after the countries which seem controlled assembly stripped of his immunity plus british prime minister to recent

may insist that she can work with a better rival to deliver bribes that with only nine days left to avoid a chaotic divorce from the european union. i'm sara kelly welcome to the program the west largest. nato is marking a milestone today with at length seventieth birthday and year old nato as he gave it during the cold war children from the soviet union and the warsaw pact have a listen. around occasional spikes in blood pressure should never been allowed to happen but germany is totally controlled by russia and perhaps some self doubt that when push comes to shove its core is not as strong as it hoped to former u.s. ambassadors to nato research the biggest threat facing the alliance is seventy the

transatlantic consensus the absence of strong american presidential leadership nato secretary general young stolzenberg rejects that conclusion it's just not possible to say that the united states is not committed to meet them because do not the states is increasing their military contributions to nato he points to the latest example a new plan for the us to forward position heavy work fighting equipment at a police airbase trump's rough treatment of the alliance particularly his incessant demand that government spend more on defense has unnerved some europeans but this shake up some call it a shakedown by the u.s. president may have some benefits for nato i've never seen so many editorials in american newspapers praising the lloyds jamie shea spent almost four decades at nato as a spokesman but also an expert in what are called emerging security challenges and while dealing with russia and its hybrid worker tactics still top the list of

challenges for nato the now retired shea warns the alliance must look further afield to be fit for the future because obviously china is the rising power it's already in europe buying up infrastructure influencing the future of artificial intelligence technology it's going to be a massively more important factor in determining twenty first century security to russia or all googly any other country outside nature of the countries inside or shaping nato's future to the next enlargement will be to north macedonia which changed its name to settle a dispute with greece that earned an almost immediate invitation to. joint pending the approval of the other twenty nine allies they didn't waste their time they didn't drag their feet and that's remarkable for an organization of twenty nine members so i think that. it's not just our desire to join it's how nato has dealt with the challenge of enlargement that shows that this is

a strong forward looking and dynamic organization scope you hopes the alliance will prove this anniversary year that seventy is the new thirty. and bruno led to joins us now from brussels he is a defense and security analyst at the german marshall fund of the united states welcome to the program and i'd like to begin by asking you because we have now seventy years after its founding how do you see nato as biggest challenges going forward both internally and externally. well i think moving forwards nato may have to face three key challenges here first of all it's looking to the east over the past decade russia has increasingly been rolling its muscles it is frustrating the eastern borders of europe and nato must respond to that it must respond to that on the one hand militarily and we see that nato has been looking at that but on the other hand nato has no choice but also to talk with russia and to

engage in diplomacy so is this it is this fine balance between military response and diplomacy that nato will continue to face a challenge with so that's step number one number two number two nato must also look south there are challenges emerging from the mediterranean region from the south held immigrant but also the middle east those are not necessarily challenges that need to be fixed with dying's or jet fighters these require a different response and there again nato is trying to do that and lastly for sure it's an internal challenge any alliance needs leadership whether it's european leadership or american leadership for now nato has showed that leadership for the past seventy years but we should not take this for granted we should not take for granted that americans and europeans keep to agree on every single issue and that's for sure will continue to be a challenge in the future that let's talk a little bit more about that i'm troubled dynamic now because i mean lately we have really seen a lot of tension between the u.s. and nato when it comes to defense spending among allies president meeting

with nato secretary general last night he seemed a bit warmer this is what he said and i'd like to play it and get your reaction he said this in reply to a question from our washington bureau chief alexander phenomena about germany have a list. apre talking about you haven't talked about germany i mean germany obviously is not paying their fair share a great respect for uncle and i have great respect for the country my father's german right was german and born in a very wonderful place in germany so i have a great feeling for germany but they're not paying what they should be paying it paying close to one percent and this supposed to be paying two percent then the united states over the years got to a point where it's paying four point three percent which is very unfair and the u.s. g.d.p. especially under me because the g.d.p. is going up so much because it's four point three of a much larger g.d.p.

so we're paying for a big proportion of nato which basically is protecting europe so we're protecting europe. now i mean this is the line we have to mention bernie that has not only been mentioned by president trump but also by his predecessors former u.s. presidents and you know this bickering that we're really seeing now though over defense spending has it massed other important issues for the alliance. well the defense spending as you clearly said it has been an issue in the alliance for almost a decade. but if you ask me whether this has really been blocking important decisions in the alliance i don't think so we actually see that's over the past five six years nato has gone through great it up to. internally and externally despite its allies perhaps bickering over money we still see the allies as able to function think about the troops that have been stationed in the baltics and poland think

about the actions that are today being discussed in washington to better protect the black sea region think about aid that is being provided to partner nations such as ukraine or georgia so yes the alliance is bickering over money but overall they agree over the strategic direction and they agree over actions that must be taken going to lead to joining us from the german marshall fund in brussels thank you and it's well itself to proclaim to president one by dell is challenging authorities to arrest him after being stripped of his parliamentary and unity white oh has been engaged in a power struggle with president nicolas maduro for months in january he proclaimed himself president a move the needle atlee recognized by the united states germany and other countries . this is the constituent assembly and that is way law it was set up by president nicolas maduro in twenty seventeen to rewrite the country's constitution and many venezuelans consider the body illegitimate and more than

forty countries do not recognize the assembly but it's these lawmakers loyal to madeira who have voted to strip the opposition leader and self-proclaimed president one who i don't know of his parliamentary immunity cheers and applause followed the decision. the constituent assembly as president. says the party unanimously voted to authorize the supreme court to prosecute quite a for breaching a ban on leaving the country in january. majeure supporters also want quite zero to be charged with inciting violence and his efforts to oust the president and for allegedly accepting funds illegally acquired isn't backing down. do you think that by continuing to threaten us with raids with disqualification with kidnapping by persecuting my political party or unity or federal legislators that they are

going to stop was obviously they are wrong they are wrong because we are showing our face like always and we are going to keep doing it until we achieve permanent freedom for the country. earlier on twitter go i dos had efforts to arrest him when he met with force hinting at international support more than fifty countries recognize quite a self-proclaimed presidency but he has yet to win the support of venezuela's military last week the auditor general's office announced it had stripped him of the right to hold office for the next fifteen years. jennifer can you know gonzales joins us now from baton jennifer what happens next. well this is not surprising at all i think that the government has waited long enough i have waited a long time because usually the opposition figures are quickly denied the possibility

of office of running for office and then they're charged by some some criminal or some criminal charge and then they are usually jailed or they're pushed into exile so this is the same course that is going to happen for a while though if if the international attention goes away from venezuela and that is what the government is hoping for and they're seeing that it's been two and a half months now much has moved clearly the international community has been looking at this but they're starting to look away and the government knows that and they know that when the time is right as soon as people look away they can then make the move against white though and where they will have to then decide whether he wants to continue this fight for venezuela's freedom from jail or in exile and and it's only a matter of time unless of course why though has some other hand obviously so it sounds like you think that this political impasse that we've seen now in the past couple of months that it is developing in favor of the current administration of

what it. yes i mean the strategy that that go had in the beginning and the risk that he took was to say to say the military please come to us come to our side but that has not panned out the military has stuck firmly with my view of this by all of the things that have been going down and going down and and this bite the chaos and everything and so for why though now the question is what will happen next what is he what is he going to do is he going to call for greater intervention there's not much and they haven't even provided a clear path a second as a plan b. so to say so it's very difficult right now if the government despite the chaos despite the blackouts everything that is happening is in full control maybe the military decides not to back them but it's hard to say that that will happen i mean they've withstood a lot of international pressure they withstood the outpouring of support from from from opposition circles everything and even international pressure from the united

states sanctions and they're still backing mother rosa right now by their oh we could say has control of venezuela and how is the situation for people there in venezuela jennifer because i mean we saw you know how difficult it was to get humanitarian aid for example into the country. so the humanitarian crisis continues and the economic crisis continues but all of this is maybe made even worse by the blackouts that have plagued the country since march seventh and the electricity shortages that now have become commonplace massive electricity shortages are having an effect on people's lives the hurts the government has had declared that children do not go to school and the business hours for people at work are reduced to two pm and so now people are who were before very very very tuned into the political crisis and of a rush is now are worried about their basic necessities and worry about the

resources where they can get water where they can get electricity and so this is going to have an impact on those push for for to really do regime change and for and for mother to step down because people are simply now worried about about survival and so this is this is very critical right now that the blackouts are now set to continue the city problem is serious and so for venezuela it's only going to get worse. jennifer communicants alice thank you. let's get a quick check now some other stories making news around the world the former prime minister of malaysia has gone on trial for his alleged role in a massive corruption scandal. is accused of misappropriating four and a half billion dollars from a state development fund if convicted of the charges the sixty five year old could face life in person. eight election votes in eight districts of istanbul are being

recounted after president. a k party appealed the results the move comes after erda once party was defeated by the opposition c.h.p. in the initial results the c.h.p. has criticized the appeal saying that a cave painting is trying to steal the will of the people. celebrations erupted across algeria last night as the president. announced his resignation algerians have held street demonstrations for weeks to demand the ellington two year old step down on tuesday algeria as army demand him immediately resign. a law has taken effect in the state of barnard that makes gay sex and adultery a capital offense is punishable by death the country's strictly applied islamic law has sparked an international outcry with the u.n. calling it cruel and inhumane rise to penal code introduces death by stoning as a punishment for homosexual acts and adultery until wednesday the list red saudi

arabia iran mauritania sudan and yemen no brunei population four hundred thirty thousand has joined them as a country where homosexuality is considered a crime punishable by death the common bond sharia law implementation of the islamic legal system in brunei has prompted this change to its penal code adultery is no likewise a capital offense and for robbery one possible penalty is amputation sultan hasa noble kiya who has ruled for over fifty years defended the new laws without referencing homosexuality. retiring in. a small nation we always prioritize our prayers to. this is driven by our national philosophy of mali. and monarchy. that has held sway here for many hundreds of years. but the united nations called on the sultan to

repeal the new laws saying that human rights and faith are not opposing forces. and the high commissioner for human rights said today urged today the government of brunei to stop entry into force of a new penal code which would enshrined in legislation a cruel and inhumane punishment in breach of international human rights law including death by stoning the severity of punishment introduced by the new penal code also has rights groups concerned. we are alarmed that the ten house astonishment to include for example competition. or death by saudi which are extremely cruel punishment we are also alarmed that the court criminalizes behaviors that should not be can see their crimes for example. between those of the same or the opposite sex. the new laws of cost a cry from celebrities like american actor george clooney he's called for

a boycott on luxury hotels owned by the sultan of brunei in paris los angeles and elsewhere. u.n. experts do not expect the new harsher sentences to be handed down but that is unlikely to quell protest in the international community as these campaigners though say the sultan's london home made clear. british prime minister theresa may is due to meet with opposition labor leader jeremy corbyn any new push for a compromise that's after announcing that she would ask the e.u. for another delay beyond the april twelfth deadline after months of political deadlock is now a indicating that she wants a closer relationship with europe after all the coming days perhaps the coming hours could provide the answer. in london a potentially important shift to reason me says she wants another extension to the break that deadline and will seek political consensus to break months of parliamentary deadlock i'm offering to sit down with the leader of the opposition

and to try to agree a plan that we would both stick to to ensure that we leave the european union and that we do so with a deal the initial reaction from the labor party leader positive but cautious. and of course i'm very happy to meet so we need to have a discussion with the prime minister we need to ensure that parliament has an opportunity to vote on proposals that the bench is crashing out of the in the end of next week. in paris another reminder from europe of the need for britain to decide it soon the french president underlining that british interests aren't the only ones that conant. notebook clearly our priority must be for proper functioning of the european union and market. the e.u. shouldn't be held hostage to a political cross the united kingdom on a long time basis. berlin too didn't hide its weariness with the ongoing stalemate

in westminster. as a current result of the talks could be a renewal of article fifty but i can't comment coming. to be honest i don't want to comment. that we have to wait and see what the view is in london where. we're long past the deadline they must know that in london into. this mystery the chinese over. the e.u. will have to agree any extension to the breaks that date france and germany are the only skeptical voices. let's bring indeed correspondent barrett mass who is in london so big it tell us could these planned talks with the opposition be the decisive move that might break break the breaks a deadlock. they might break the deadlock but also it's not going to be easy we're reminded in private is this question whether it's reason i had to

answer to interventions of m.p.'s here in the parliament and someone from our own party from the conservative party has asked the research question whether it's what's worse no deal britain crashing out of the european union without a deal or i could a marxist and you see my lead government she was referring to the labor party reason why it's going to speak say so and also i speak into labor m.p.'s today and he was worried that to reason mase off was just a trap that she was using labor to get her do you through in the end but she wouldn't maybe stakes all the promises that she could make to jeremy corbyn and the cause of these negotiations so lots of worries though we do also have to do. assume that both leaders want to want to prevent a nodia brags that they don't want a scenario where there are no plans for the future and where there are possible

food shortages and chaos at the border we have to assume that they are going to try to work together let's listen to what series a may herself said to parliament when she was explaining this move right minister firstly to the honorable gentleman the purpose of meeting with the opposition today is indeed to look at those areas that we can we agree and i think there are actually a number of areas that we agree on in relation to press it i think we both want to deliver a leaving the you with the deal i think we both want we both want to protect jobs i think we both want to ensure that we end free movement i think we both recognize the importance of the withdrawal agreement and what we want to do now is to find a way forward to that can come on the support of this house and deliver on brit's it deliver on the result of the referendum and ensure that people can continue to have trust in their politicians are doing what they are asked to do. so a lot on the plate there as we can see what is the reaction to this news because of

this possible cooperation between the prime minister and the opposition leader. well i think for dinner a british people have not show it it's a very hopeful meet i think a lot of people are plainly worried because the twelfth of april is are already next week people want to know can they still travel to europe businesses want to know on what basis are they going to trade with europe are they really going to be shipped food shortages is there going to be chaos at the borders soldiers out on standby do they have to intervene so people really want to know what's going to happen and they would look at their politicians with the intensity and hope that they can find a way out of this deadlock and we've seen so many votes we have to say in the british parliament. in recent weeks on this issue of bribes that isn't possible better get that we're now going to see parliament voting again until recently as budget deal. well yes it is very possible we don't know for sure but

there is an assumption that the reason may will for another time draw and get palm and erin's behind had the and that maybe she uses these talks with gerry because of it also as a threat to her own party to the right of her own party to say if you don't now vote for my idea because some of your own party haven't so far voices i had if you don't do it now this is what breaks it's going to look like a softer bragg's it brags that i'm going to then have to stitch up with the labor party say yes very possible that we will see another vote. mass in london thank you . on to sports fans now and another incident of racist abuse at the top tiers of european football this time it was italy's leader you'll ventus on the receiving end the abuse against the one thousand year old moyes came occurred within hours of a high level anti racism meeting in london attended by some of football's top brass

people who critics contend have done too little to combat racism in what is known as the beautiful game. listen carefully. monkey chants from the host and event his teenager maurice cain had to play through the racist abuse which only intensified after he his goal celebration at the opposition fans but it's the reaction of some of his own teammates that have left many wondering that it's not just the fans in need of educating you dentists teammate you're not a new chief came under fire for his post match comments he said cain incited the fans. i think the game is fifty fifty we are professionals we have to set the example and not provoke any one coach max and eagerly echoed the defendant's views saying kane shouldn't have celebrated in that manner but elite he was also quick to

point out a solution so they decide it's up boss there are cameras there for this reason and when these people are filmed they should be thrown out of the stadium they should not be allowed to enter the stadium again so people can no longer get into the stadium for their entire life not for a month or a year for their entire life someone makes a mistake it's the end problem solved. sounds like a solution to a problem that affects our top tier football leagues but is enough being done on the same day europe's football governing body you a father was in london for an anti discrimination conference. the only call it was that the matter on the pitch of the colors of the players' shirts and unfortunately better than yellow cards of the referees. critics argue there's a lot of lip service and flashy videos like this one from those at the top. that perhaps less talk and more action like stadium bands point deduction and turn in

disqualification a need it when it comes to tackling racism in an honest. coming up on news asia they're taking a look at malaysia's disgraced former prime minister and court on corruption charges a look closer at the multi billion dollar scandal you're watching d.w. news i'm sorry kelly thanks so much.

with the census. recognize. and experience the inexpressible. the cultural magazine. arts twenty one. g.w.

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on up what is a thermal is you know i mean in your mind noticing growing you are getting good when you go you don't want. me no matter where unanimous. the show could go because you prayed yes or no nobody said that are going on where they're being funded. this is d w news asia coming up on the program they'll sultan and sure we a law a new penal code enters force in brunei it punishes adultery and gays sex with death by stoning we'll hear from a human rights group calling it barbaric to the core plus. malaysia's disgraced former prime minister is in court over the multibillion.