this is t w news from berlin tonight germany tells the united states it's no foreign minister heiko moscow says germany will not join a u.s. led mission to protect the shipping in the waters off the coast of iran is there a diplomatic solution led by europe in the works also coming up tonight for the 1st time in more than a decade the u.s. fed cuts interest rates plan a quarter of one percent right in line with expectations but not exactly what president trump wanted and former all the chief rupert scotland is formally charged

by german prosecutors for his alleged role in the diesel's game stand. and a scientific breakthrough or the stuff of nightmares the japanese scientists has been given the green light to start experiments creating human animal embryos. i'm burnt off to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome tonight germany is saying no no to joining a proposed to u.s. led naval mission to protect shipping in the gulf the u.s. has asked allies to help protect vessels as they pass through that very important strait of hormuz because of titan tensions with iran germany had already expressed

skepticism about the proposal saying that priority should be given to diplomatic efforts to deescalate tensions this is what the country's foreign minister who said earlier today. the german government will not participate in the sea mission proposed and planned by the united states we are in close agreement with our french partners in this regard we think the strategy of maximum pressure is wrong and we do not want to military escalation we will continue to work with diplomacy. that's all right for more on this i'm joined now by our correspondent kate brady she is on the story for us here in berlin good evening to you kate so we're getting a clear answer from the foreign minister germany will not join a naval mission in the persian gulf and we have to clarify saying it will not join a u.s. led naval mission right. yeah exactly some straight talking there from the german

foreign minister reiterating again what we'd already heard yesterday after that request came from washington to germany to join that u.s. led mission there in the streets right now germany is very much set on trying to find a diplomatic solution and above all trying to make sure that the situation does not escalate further at the same time however it is worth pointing out that just at the other side of europe today in brussels the new german defense minister and a great crump a.k.k. as she's known here was meeting with nato allies including the u.k. and friends who were also very important signatories on that on that rather fragile iran nuclear deal right now and her answer to the press wasn't quite as direct and click cook as masses we can have a listen to what she had to say now. that. we are considering this request in close consultation with the united kingdom and france. and we're doing this with

particular consideration of our political and diplomatic goals and from this overall assessment a decision will be made. so what is. the new german defense minister what exactly is she saying. basically there we just had unincluded come karrenbauer or a.k.k. as she's known here she was in brussels early today meeting with some nato allies and she's been working closely to take closely with friends in the u.k. as well who are also very important signatories on that very fragile iran nuclear deal right now and contrary to a certain degree to what must germany's foreign minister was saying a.k.k. as she's known here as said that germany haven't yet reached a decision on that request from washington to join that u.s. led naval mission in the strait of hormuz but at the same time it has to be said

she did reiterate like heikal miles that germany is working closely with european allies and 1st and foremost wants to explore all possible diplomatic avenues and diplomatic means to try and deescalate the tensions that what germany wants to avoid it of course above anything else is an escalation of that situation germany is very much aware of the risks that are at stake here so 1st and foremost is very much a diplomatic route that germany is in favor of her and her keep her be on the story for us tonight here in berlin kate thank you. well money is getting slightly cheaper in the united states the federal reserve has cut its key interest rate by a quarter point to a range slightly above 2 percent it's the 1st rate cut in a decade and is being viewed as a precautionary step the fed wants to preempt threats such as president drugs trade

wars or low inflation as well as a dim global economic growth outlook and the fed chairman jerome powell repeated his pledge today to act as appropriate to sustain the expansion wording that the financial markets have interpreted as a signal for possible future rate cuts wall street did not immediately react to this rate could it have been widely expected. stephen beard from our business desk is here now and stephen the decision i mean it has consequences everywhere doesn't it not just in the u.s. that's right brant what this does officially basically is make the u.s. dollar cheaper it makes money cheaper it encourages lending it encourages people to take out loans to spend that's the idea it's meant to boost the economy that is traditionally why you lower interest rates it ripples through the economy globally it does have consequences as well if you are a if you have debt that's in u.s.

dollars it makes it cheaper and also obviously if you are you can benefit from the world's largest economy having easier money so it's generally seen as something that will ripple across people looking and this may be puzzled because we've been hearing that the u.s. economy is roaring forward unemployment is at a record low so why does it need this boost and this is what's extraordinary about this i mean especially if you listen to the press or with powell the chairman after this happened job numbers are incredibly high consumer spending is high that the normal metrics of a strong economy are all there he says this is basically an insurance cuts that's meant to be preemptive and keep the good times rolling essentially that has fed watchers scratching their heads because they say isn't the fed supposed to be data dependent the data is all good and yet you're still cutting rates why are you doing that and what he said was pretty interesting he said you know if you look at the markets twice this year as being the year we were against a rate cut times were going really well but then it got sort of rocky once we

signal that we were changing our position things corrected again in may to june it's about signaling confidence is what he's saying yes so he's playing here with with market psychology what is the that's what seems to be happening it was it was really interesting how this presser is the question kept being asked 25 basis points what does that really do to the economy does it really injection of capital does really 3 things up know is that it creates confidence and so the fear is. that there is sort of this headline reaction that you're trying to be reacting to the headlines about reacting to the u.s. president because the president wants a lot more done right and of course the president wanted a steeper cuts and he's already made himself known even before this decision was announced that he wanted to see something more what's interesting though is that the trump in sort of ecosystem and sort of the 24 hour news cycle seems to take its effect here and you people he said powell said do not look at the 25 basis points themselves but look at the fact that we are signaling something here and he said that trade for example the headlines it's generated by the trade dispute that's

something they have to react to essentially it's a new world it's fascinating to see right a token act actually has teeth stephen as always thank you for well it has been 4 years since the emissions cheating scandal in germany's automotive industry 1st broke and prosecutors are still bringing charges still naming suspects the latest report stop there who used to head up the all the division of the folks wagon group for more than 20 years rupert stadler was one of the top executives in the german although industry today the former audi boss finds himself facing charges of fraud false certification and criminal advertising practices all consequences of his alleged role in diesel gas emissions cheating scandal which has rocked the car industry in germany since details 1st emerged almost 4 years ago that statler is accused of allowing sales of hundreds of thousands of folks like and all the models to continue after september 2015 that's

when munich prosecutors say he already knew those same models had been fitted with illegal software that helped the vehicles game missions tests. audi is part of the volkswagen group before joining audi shuttler was head of the board for the folks wagon group he served as audi chief executive from 2007 until october 20th when he was formally dismissed a few months after being arrested by german police for his alleged role in the scandal he spent more than 3 months in custody before his release the public prosecutor's office in munich say stadler and 3 other defendants are being charged . audi says the case is separate from the wider investigation into the comic or his role in the scandal which was settled last october with an 800000000 euro fine. well it's still more than a year away but in the united states the democrats are already gearing up for the 2020 presidential election 10 candidates faced off last night in

a television debate they addressed issues such as immigration health care and who is the best candidate to stop president donald trump from winning a 2nd term 10 more contenders including the former vice president and the front runner joe biden will debate tonight. it was billed as a political blockbuster these democratic candidates met for a 2nd time to spawn live on t.v. . they sang out of the same hymn book during the rendition of the national anthem but old unity disappeared when a fierce debate ensued and progressives like bernie sanders clashed with more moderate candidates like john hickenlooper. but there was one thing all contenders agreed upon trump must go. we have got to take a lot troublous racism is sexism set up phobia and come together in an

unprecedented unprecedented grassroots movement to not only defeat trump but to transform our economy and how government will call his racism out for what it is and also talk about its consequences it doesn't just offend our sensibilities to hear him say send her back about and member of congress because she's a woman of color because she's a muslim american doesn't just offend our sensibilities when he calls mexican immigrants rapists and criminals senator elizabeth warren reminded of rivals that in spite of the differences democrats will soon have to unite. defeat the common enemy 5 shirts away from the one donald trump disc graces the office of presidents every single day and to have anyone on this stage tonight or tomorrow night would be a far better president i promise no matter who our candidate is i will work my heart

out to be donald trump and to elect a democratic congress. 10 more democrats will debate each other on wednesday it will be some time still before the party chooses a candidate to try and unseat trump in the 2020 alexion. i. here's some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world a new york court has held a hearing in the case of finance jeffrey epstein who's accused of sex trafficking prosecutors are seeking a trial date next summer but epstein's lawyers have requested more time for more high profile money manager is accused of paying girls to recruit under age victims for sex at his manhattan mansion and other locations wildfires are burning millions of hectares of land in the center and east of russia including siberia the military has been called in to aid thousands of firefighters experts say the blazes were

caused by thunderstorms that hit during and normally find temperatures and then later spread by strong wind it's the african union has condemned the killing of 4 student opposition protesters in sudan earlier this week the students were shot by government forces in the city of. them as they protested the country's military rulers the opposition signed the outline of a power sharing agreement with the military government just weeks ago. in afghanistan at least 30 people have been killed and 10 wounded by a roadside bomb in the province of in the latest is the latest in a string of attacks as presidential campaign it gets underway security is deteriorating across the country with both the taliban and islamic state fighters mounting near daily attacks. the victims were all civilians the majority of the dead women and children they'd been travelling in a bus on

a highway linking the 2 key cities of kandahar and herat in western afghanistan the bus then hit an improvised roadside bomb. as i mean we were heading to kabul from hair out with our vehicle was hit by a lot of mine i saw many people martyred and injured. there was no immediate claim of responsibility afghan government officials blamed taliban insurgents who operate in the area and are accused of planting the explosives but a taliban spokesman denied the group's involvement in the bloodshed is expected to intensify now that official campaigning for afghanistan's presidential election is underway on sunday just hours after incumbent president traffic danny kicked off his campaign at least 20 people were killed and more than 50 wounded when a suicide attacker and gunman targeted the capitol office of his running mate. once again civilians bore the brunt of the violence. so it right here mustn't feel

lection will cost the lives of all poor people the poor of the main victims are myself i'm affected by this attack there is no one to check on my situation. i can't go anywhere i have no shelter and over a year over. with the taliban and other insurgent groups determined to undermine afghanistan's fragile democracy many afghans worry about further violent attacks in coming weeks. well that could be a groundbreaking development in science japanese officials have given approval for experiments that they aim to create the 1st ever hybrids of humans and animals well the scientists here to. his team say they plan 1st to take in barrios from an. normals and implant human cells inside them next they will place those embryos in host animals starting with rats as the hopes the rats will carry

the modified embryos to term if all goes according to plan those read will give birth to a new kind of rat capable of growing human tissues inside. the researchers would like to extend the study to other types of hoes such as pigs which could grow larger organs. the researchers ultimate goal here would be growing human organs to give to people needing organ donations but the plans raised many questions both scientifically as well as ethical questions big questions there and the talk about the ethical questions i'm joined here by our very own ethics expert martin jacques it's good to see you again martin so i mean ok i'll ask you something that is obvious but i mean what. what sets this apart from other scientific experiments both the main issue here it's not so much that. this is what they're calling in

genetic america. are. these kind of experiments had been done before including with human cells it's just that they were never allowed to proceed beyond the 14th day of just station the friends here is that the japanese authorities. are given the go ahead to bring distress station to term and why are they saying yes well the main reason is that. the understanding is that there are enormous benefits for humankind if you'll permit me the sort of. in this kind of experiments with me about the organs yeah i mean this is no small thing because the fact is that discus already been tried not with humans and rats or humans mice but mice and rats mice that could not actually produce how did the fission pancreas where essentially we're essentially submitted to the same process. rats actually grew the pine because they were replaced back into the mice and the mice were diabetes dead itself. it's such

a powerful story in terms of what one could imagine that could happen with human beings that it's hard to see that it's not technology that being already there should be explored now so go what means i'm saying the lead scientist says you know points exactly to what you're talking about and says that there's no ethical problem posed here well i think that that's an over strait i mean of course every single last that comes with a liability in this this is no different i mean there are many problems here one of them is that it's a matter of fact if you do have a 90 mile of any sort an organism that has human nature then the question is that that are going to be some have rights is that entitle to rights probably not obligations we wouldn't talk about obligations but with these things have rights and how close would it have to be to a human being for it to have rights i mean would it be would a human pancreas have to have human rights when generally would think no because the visual of the big would probably be enough for us to steer away from that but if we actually had for instance they instance in which say parts of they just have

ceased and were affected by this genetic experiment in which neuronal structures are actually breasts and now we begin to see things that have to do with brain like functions in human beings then do we have now a question about rights obviously opens an enormous enormous fields of questions now it is important to keep in mind that. the technology is there and it's not going away i was going to ask you have been going i'm surprised that we've been talking about japanese scientists getting the green light i mean who's going to police this 1st of all and you can tell us that in some lab somewhere on the planet they're not already doing these types of experiments on a higher level of change if you will we can on i mean nobody can too. the one thing that we can assume sort of in the most calculated risk approach is that given the

fact that the technology sarah given the fact that the benefits to be read from this are enormous quite literally enormous i mean it could be a complete change in the way we understand human nature because we could be actually talking about replacement parts for human beings that we will in the long run which a lot of people who need i think the important thing to underline is that given the fact that this already there it is probably better better that we actually begin to develop structures of regulation in place like japan that have a much stronger regulation i suppose to countries that have very strong technological developments like china who do not really have strong regulatory structure so the point here is this is there and it's already happening and we need the structure i think it's very important to keep in mind that this not a frankenstein story and we should get there away from that all right mark because it's always we appreciate your insights thank you my pleasure. well people in the russian capital moscow are protesting against plans to build a highway near a nuclear waste doherty say the construction work poses no risk to the local

community but residents say they do not believe that the government has their best interest at heart they are determined to stop the project emily sure reports. dangerous levels of radiation that's what nuclear physicist. radiation counter tells him every time here moscow's poly metals factory started dumping nuclear waste on this scale in the 1940 s. and fifty's when the area in the south of moscow wasn't yet part of the city so far the radioactive material is contained under a layer of clay but the activist insists that the plant highway could cut straight through their waste and they might start digging up the soil and moving it around without taking into account that it's contaminated. released into the atmosphere and anyone who breathes that song will get radioactive nuclei into their lungs and . he has been giving informal tours of the spot to journalists and locals as

this sign warns of radioactive contamination and these are the sorts of signs you might expect to find near a nuclear power plant but they're right here in the city of moscow. local residents like are worried about what could end up in the river and in their long. if you know that this nuclear waste to say about they aren't going to touch it then it's not to worrying but knowing that they're going to build a right here and all this waste can slip down the hill that's really scary. says locals have always known about the nuclear waste in their neighborhood the site is partially closed off but the riverside nearby is popular with the residents. of view from above shows just how urban the area is the nuclear waste site is slotted between a park and moscow's main river the mosque now the plan is to build

a fly over parallel to the railway bridge here construction is slated to begin later this year the city says the new road will ease traffic in moscow and they insist that construction is safe and to get people to move them which the soil will not be disturbed. by support for the flyover will be built its foundations will be up to 5 metres below the surface we've carried out studies of the sort at that depth and there were no radiation measurements above the norm that on the road when i touch the ground here. but i could put people in the area don't believe the author already they recently held a protest against the highway which people here see as the latest sign their government just doesn't care about the signs here read road of death and warn of a 2nd term noble catastrophe. and i'm around the sun now lives in the high rise apartments across from the plant construction she grew up here and has been fighting the highway since march. smythe. from my point of view they're committing

a crime against the residents who live here i don't know whose interests are driving them but they are in no way considering our interests. when the frustration here is palpable but on the other protesters want to keep fighting with petitions and protests. to make sure their homes and their city stay safe. martin women's soccer former united states coach pia aga has taken charge of the brazilian national team after her appointment last week. was officially unveiled in rio de janeiro the swede to lead her u.s. side to 2 olympic titles during her time in charge she was praised by the president of the brazilian football federation as quote the best coach in the world. all right talk about a blow dryer blow off brazilian president joe your bills and our own has snubbed it france's foreign minister canceling their meeting at the last minute and instead

going to get a haircut. streamed his hair cut your see see it right there live on facebook at the time he'd been scheduled to meet with the french foreign minister of france as top diplomats was planning to discuss environmental issues with both threatening to pull brazil out of the paris climate accord also spokesman later said that the president had other reasons for canceling the meeting and he said it was not due to the hair cut or a dye job. here's a reminder of the top stories that we're following for you germany's foreign minister. says germany will not join a u.s. led naval mission to protect shipping in the persian gulf. refers to use diplomacy he says to deescalate tensions with iran and for the 1st time in more than a decade the u.s. federal reserve has cut interest rates by

a quarter of one percent president trump wanted a bigger cut but the reduction is in line with market expect. you're watching news why but from a brilliant after a short break i'll be back to take you through the day stick around for the.

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and 50. personal tips on planes are very. differently on t.w. . the answer from germany no we will not be a part of a u.s. led naval mission to protect shipping in the strait of hormuz an act of defiance that reveals more weakness than string america's reliance on germany is suddenly not what it used to be neither is europe's reliance on itself last week a european led naval mission was floated for consideration tonight that idea has apparently been sunk to bring gulf in berlin this is the day.