that defines our ability to. 1979 to be needed to do some serious december 23rd. this is deja vu news live from berlin heading for a showdown over a controversial gas pipeline german business leaders reacted angrily after u.s. lawmakers approved sanctions against north stream to the u.s. calls it a tool of coercion for russia but companies in germany call for countermeasures against the u.s. . also coming out moscow expels to german diplomats the move is linked to the

apparent assassination of a former chechen commander in a berlin park last summer germany ordered 2 russian diplomats to leave the country last week. prime minister boris strongs and votes in the u. case general election his conservative party's leader of the opposition labor party narrowed in the final week of the campaign. i'm sumi so let's go to thank you for joining us it is an issue that has been causing a friction between germany and the us for years and now it has escalated the north stream to pipeline is being built to transport gas from russia to germany but the u.s. says it is a national security risk because it increases europe's dependence on russia as a result the u.s. house of representatives has now approved sanctions on the pipeline a move that has angered many here in germ. the sanctions target the specialised

ships that lay the pipes. only a few companies in the world possess the technology to lay deep sea pipelines none of them is russian if they continue to work on north stream too they could find themselves cut off from doing business in the us their assets there might be frozen and people working on the ships would no longer be allowed to enter america the 1230 kilometer long pipeline is a wholly owned subsidiary of russia's gas problem and is meant to transport natural gas under the baltic sea from russia to germany directly circumventing ukraine the project is more than 80 percent completed and is supposed to start operating in mid 2020. nord stream to has the potential to double the amount of russian gas imported by germany the country needs more gas as a stable source of energy when it stops using coal and nuclear power. democrat and republican lawmakers in the u.s.

fear the pipeline could give moscow greater political leverage over germany and the entire european let me and which the u.s. senate is expected to approve the bill by the end of the week and president trump said on wednesday that he will sign it into law this soon as possible. our political correspondent simon young is covering this story for us and he joins us for more hi simon tell us more about some of the reactions that you've seen here in berlin this morning. here's to me as you mentioned there's been some reaction from german business is the head of the german russian chamber of commerce is calling for retaliate 3 sanctions if the u.s. impose these measures and there's also been supposed to call reaction we have the spokeswoman for peta out my he's the economics minister here this morning saying that they regret the decision of the u.s. house of representatives they reject any what they called extraterritorial sanctions and they're watching closely to see what the u.s.

senate does i believe there's going to be a vote on this measure in the u.s. senate the end of next week sam and what exactly are these sanctions and what effect could they have on the pipeline project yeah these sanctions are targeted against the companies that operate the specialist vessels that are laying the pipeline in the north stream to pipeline in the baltic sea and in particular they're directed at. cher's primary shareholders and the executives of those companies. under this law the u.s. authorities would take 60 days to to determine which countries companies are exactly involved and then they could proceed to impose measures like cancelling visas denying these these people entry into the u.s. and even could involve asset freezes or blocks on business activities in the u.s.

by these individuals personalized sanctions simon nordstrom to is not just a controversial project from the u.s. perspective we have to say it has opponents here in europe as well doesn't it. well that's true in particular poland is particularly unhappy about nordstrom too because it says it's being bypassed by it and it's also opposed to it on the same ground of the u.s. opposition namely that it says that europe is becoming too dependent on russian gas also i should mention ukraine which is not in the e.u. of course but it to posies north stream too because it used to be the main transit country for russian energy exports to europe another point is that the european commission has also. been taking measures that could affect the outcome of this project. it's in posed the regulations saying that the same companies should not be

both operating the pipeline and selling the gas that flows through it that's important because it could massively affect the business viability of nord stream too and there is there are legal battles around that going on as well here in europe all right our political correspondent simon young covering the latest developments on that story for us thank you simon russia is expelling 2 german diplomats in retaliation for the expulsion of 2 russian diplomats by berlin last week it is all linked to the killing of a former chechen rebel commander in berlin the summer she was gunned down in a public park german prosecutors believe russia was behind the killing and the russian diplomats were expelled because berlin said moscow was not cooperating sufficiently in the investigation now moscow has denied any involvement in the killing let's go to our correspondent in moscow emily show in is standing by for us

hi emily so we've seen russia now expelled 2 german diplomats what do you make of this escalation. well sumi it is a bit of an escalation the german side has even reserved the right to take further med measures if necessary but in a way this this escalation was to be expected last week after the russian diplomats were expelled from germany the russian foreign ministry said that it would take reciprocal measures those reciprocal measures from the russian side usually take the form of a tit for tat response and that's what we're seeing now and even on monday vladimir putin the russian president said that there is what he called an unwritten law that if you expel our diplomats we will expel yours so i think in a way it is an excellent escalation but we're also kind of seeing both sides going through through the diplomatic motions as it were this is a link to the more murder of a former chechen rebel in berlin last august and prosecutors believe that there is

a russian involvement there what is moscow saying about that allegation. well the kremlin has repeatedly denied any involvement in the murder they called the accusations groundless but as you already said to me this accusation from the german side is actually that the russian side hasn't helped enough hasn't cooperated enough in the investigation of this murder and on monday again vladimir putin speaking to his german counterpart the chancellor angela merkel said that moscow is ready to help in the investigation he also said that he denied that this was a diplomatic crisis and i think we're seeing from the russian side especially that both sides are treading carefully german russian relations are traditionally very close we just heard about the nord stream to pipeline which is supposed to connect the 2 countries directly and today we heard a statement from the kremlin spokesperson as well who said that these expulsions today of german diplomats were necessary reciprocal measures and that he hoped that

they wouldn't get in the way of further constructive ties with germany so i think both sides and especially the russian side are kind of trying to keep this scandal as small as possible and we just quickly have what we actually know we've seen from germany to the expulsion of 2 diplomats. well germany has called this measure unjustified and they also have threatened that they could take further measure of going forward for it our correspondent in moscow and lee sure when reporting for us thank you. let's catch up now on some of the other stories making news around the world algerians are voting to elect a new president after months of political turmoil the north african nation has been in limbo for months since protests helped oust longtime president updo as his beautifully cut in some towns crowds have disrupted voting they are pushing for a boycott of the elections and demanding sweeping political reforms. the new york

times is reporting that former hollywood movie producer harvey weinstein has reached a tentative settlement with dozens of women who accuse him of sexual misconduct the $25000000.00 deal would and most civil lawsuits against weinstein but he still faces criminal charges of sexual assault and rape in new york. new zealand recovery teams near the fire carty volcano will head to the island at 1st light on friday to recover the remains of those killed in monday's sudden eruption the death toll from that eruption is now 88 others are still missing and some 21 people are in intensive care units. defense ministry has confirmed that suspected islamist militants killed $71.00 soldiers near the border with mali a nighttime ambush on a military camp and in one in the southwest also wounded 12 soldiers and left several more missing the so-called islamic state has long been active in this area . and did every reporter tell me or not people has been looking into this story for

us he's with us here in studio hi tony what more can you tell us about this attack well it's reported from the defense ministry that they say hundreds of attackers came to this camp there was and she's day hundreds of them came with gunfire with mortar shells even suicide car bombs and storm that have the fighting went on for about 3 hours before the defense ministry says the attackers then fled across the nearby border to mali so this is this is believed to be the largest or the deadliest attack so far on asia arion troops we mentioned that the so-called islamic state is present in this area are they behind this attack well we don't know yet we'll find out soon this is the kind of attack especially one of the size that you had a groups tend to treasure and we'll hear something from them you know soon whether in form of a statement or even sometimes a form of a recording they tend to record these attacks but these state has this growing

presence in the city held not just in asia and when people look at for example syria and iraq and this you you know because the islamic state has had a decline there that it's over that's not the case in this the hell this is a difficult place to govern and it's a place where they will feel like they can grow they can breed and they can attack targets in that region so we're talking about a serious security risk for this the whole region can these nations cope these are poor nations in the say hell they have vost as well the vast territory difficult to govern and they've been looking to the outside world for help because they've been struggling so we've seen countries like france and the u.s. send thousands of troops into the region to try to help france in particular has led the way it even lost a future of 13 troops recently in an helicopter collision france then called a summit with some of these nations these held nations and said let's find a new way forward but actually as a result of this later. attack france has canceled that so it's not just these poor

nations that are struggling to deal with the threat but even the big a nations france and the u.s. as well australian what can france and also europe germany in this case do to help well friends of the france in particular has been pressuring the rest of the world countries like germany and saying you need to do more this is not just a local problem they're saying it's a global problem and they want the international community to get more involved but the moment the so much confusion so many interventions there isn't a sort of global cohesive thought as to how to get the security situation this a hell sorted and that is i think the sticking point of the moment so right reporter tommy a lot of bringing us the story thank you so much for joining us here in studio feel now india has passed a new law that will make it easier for minorities from neighboring countries to gain indian citizenship as long as they are not muslim opposition to the law is especially strong in assam a state in india's northeast that borders bangladesh and has

a large muslim population people there fear that undocumented hindu migrants from bangladesh will now be granted citizenship and to the political balance in the region. a rupture of faith in the state. many here and a some see the passage of the citizenship amendment bill as a clear message from the hindu nationalist government that they are 2nd class citizens. the government but this the other day doing that trying to make us minority in our own very spit in our one little religion by giving to bangladesh is . the new law would allow non muslim religious minorities from neighboring countries like bangladesh to claim indian nationality. a campaign promise delivered by prime minister modi's b j p government which denies the measure discriminates against any group here really bothers me this bill will not harm even

a little bit any minority especially our muslim brothers and sisters who live in this country because this will only give citizenship it doesn't take it away from anybody. but critics say the law undermines india's secular constitution and is blatantly anti muslim in this bill they are targeting a community without being it it lives the basic structure of the constitution it is divisive and exclusive it will destabilize up polity and it into 20000000 people will not trust us. and tweet prime minister narendra modi hailed a landmark day for india and promised the bill would alleviate the suffering of many who faced persecution. but in a sum the bill is another reason to distrust india a recent citizenship registry exercise excluded $2000000.00 people in assam who now

have to prove their citizenship or be rendered stateless hindus left off the list now have protection but not muslims. who could face deportation. voting is underway in britain's 3rd at general election in 5 years conservative prime minister forced johnson cast his vote early on he's hoping to secure a majority so that he can get his breaks it plans through parliament the opposition labor party leader jeremy corbyn also voted early his party gained ground in the final week of the campaign so despite initial predictions that johnson would win a majority the most recent polls suggest that the result is too close to call. that we know. how marrying his point home prime minister boris johnson canvassing for last minute votes in this breaks it dominated election. and the conservative

leader stayed on message throughout his final rally. well i think it's time for this country to come together and move on although the will of the people that we planned. at his more low key affair labor leader jeremy corbin was keen to remind voters of the other issues. also go down the road of investing in our country investing to end austerity and redistributing wealth and power in our society and why that's never been seen before why the government and. it's a choice between carbon and johnson for prime minister so who do voters think it'll be. unfortunately boris to simply never there options are. so you can be prime minister it's not. the worst thing that can happen i think is for the conserve to skate in. hollywood and mining is chasing some leader of the

democrats one party hoping that won't happen the anti breaks that lead dams who are hoping to make gains but we've still got the chance to stop breaks that we can stop boris johnson getting a majority and what happens in the next few hours is going to be absolutely crucial to see whether that happens and then there's the scottish national party also proved to the s.n.p. is the 3rd largest party in the u.k. parliament and could hold the balance of power if there's a new white right majority. we have the prospect of another new deal cliffe age as we go through next year and i do think that get breaks it done slogan is the biggest corn in this election whatever happens at the polling station only one candidate will walk through the doors of number 10 downing street as prime minister after clearing up as many votes as they can on election day. but voting is under way let's go to london our correspondent back at nasa standing by for us there hi vericut breaks it has been an extremely

a divisive issue in british politics how much have you seen that reflected in this election campaign. it really is a big issue for british society and it played out in the election campaign when very big parties accuse each other of dirty tricks for example the conservative party they changed social media their twitter handle to a fact checking and even though it was the official conservative party twitter account but also generally in society i've spoken to voters who've always voted labor the whole life they are in a very safe labor seat or at least so far it was a very safe labor seat but they said they just can't bring themselves to vote for for jeremy corbyn they used a lot of colorful language to express describe him and equally i've spoken to x. conservative m.p.'s who describe her as johnson the prime minister as a charlatan and a liar so it's a big issue and it's going to stick around i think in british society some time to

come and we've seen the polls are tightening in the run up to the election day bagot do we have any real indication of how the country will vote today well sumi in the last weeks initially it was assumed that it would be. a landslide a majority of for boris johnson that he so desperately craves to get his breakthrough deal over the line but now it's recently has been tightened up a little bit so there is still a chance that there could be a hung parliament which opens up the possibility for jeremy corbyn the labor opponent to to lead to lead the country however it's worth noting that both leaders are not very popular they have negative ratings and that passed in the opinion poll ratings so neither of them are really an asset to the party but you can you give us

a rundown of what happens next depending on the outcome of course of the selection . well if corbin dust forms some form of most likely a minority government then we would most likely see a 2nd referendum a so-called people's vote on the original bricks and vote so that would happen at some point most likely next year if boris johnson gets his majority he has said that he will then lead britain out of the e.u. by the end of january however he then faces that quite allergists house to negotiate again with the european union this time not to withdraw all the exit from the e.u. but the future relations so it's about trade deals it's about security partnership and he has said that he will get all that done by the end of next year and this is a message i think that went on quite well with a lot of very seasoned easy message making it seem like tiles play many critics

many experts who say that these negotiations cannot really be done in a few months trade negotiations normally take years and well that this whole brics debate is going to hold the country not for months but probably for years to come right our correspondent very good mass covering the u.k. election for us all there all day there from london thank you back at. you're watching news still to come we're turning to the ways of the past we look at efforts by farmers in southern spain to fight climate change and save their land. let's check in now on some more stories from around the world israel is heading for an unprecedented 3rd election in 12 months on thursday the israeli parliament voted to dissolve itself after failing to form a government the country will hold new elections in march. and the clashes have erupted in beirut after supporters of lebanon's 2 main shiite groups try to attack

a group of anti-government demonstrators police fired tear gas to prevent supporters of hezbollah and amal from reaching the protesters the demonstrators have been calling for the 2 group's leaders to step down. government ministers from around the world are wrapping up talks at the united nations climate conference in madrid there are aid to strengthen the 2015 paris agreement on fighting climate change a speaking at the conference u.n. secretary general antonio has warned that nations must deliver on climate targets over the next 12 months or both present and future generations will suffer should be now a few 100 kilometers away from the summit in the south of spain farmers are battling the reality of climate change santiago grows omens here in southern spain it's one of europe's driest regions she's determined to keep the land productive and it's clear to see the tough property is much greener than

her neighbors. and that made in may not the greenery and protects the land from the effects of the sun stops the rouge and you know what that mean we managed to grow a lot of different plants here and even some spices. the cross holds the morning dew serving as a natural water source for the almond trees. that stops the soil from drying out or being washed away if there is a heavy rainfall climate change intensive agriculture and overbuilding mean the loss of productive land is a big problem in spain it's one of the main topics at the united nations climate conference now wrapping up in the capital madrid and. all the evidence shows that the situation in southern europe is rapidly worsening. of course drought and rising temperatures mean nature is less resistant to the ravages of climate

change. a match towards the livelihood of farmers and rural communities at risk. and vision of mine. in mercia they are tackling the problem half the almonds here are grown without mechanized watering. these 4 legged gardeners also help the grass to flourish thanks to the natural manure they produce . now my mother and grandmother knew that they should stick to the old ways of doing things keeping up the traditional farming methods. that then. this is their way of life and their land and they want to stop it turning into a desert. now cave paintings discovered in indonesia appear to be the oldest such images ever found about 44000 years old that's what

a team of australian and indonesian scientists have reported in a study just published by the journal nature that the steam says the scene here a featuring a buffalo and wild pigs being chased by human like hunters is probably the earliest known picture story the painting on the island of sulawesi is considerably older than the oldest prehistoric art found in europe. let's get a recap now of our top stories here and the u.s. house of representatives has passed a bill opposing sanctions on projects intended to pipe russian gas to germany the sanctions affect construction of the north stream to pipeline on the move has drawn an angry response from german industry. and russia is expelling 2 german diplomats in a dispute over the killing of a former chechen rebel commander in a berlin park last summer it's being seen as retaliation after berlin expelled 2 russian diplomats last week. coming up next conflict zone with tim

sebastien his interviewing hans sawyer who has at the vatican's child protection center thank you for watching g.w. and don't forget to follow us on twitter our handle there at g.w. news please stay with us.

into the conflict zone miss tim sebastian. my guest this week here in rome is the jesuit priest of the huns solo fours and needed eggs but also to abuse them over

kludgy as the boss of consumers about real choices for women continue to provide opportunity and cover focused spoke amid these also produce conflicts of next on d. w. . with different languages we fight for different things that's fine but we all stick up for freedom freedom of speech and freedom of press. giving freedom of choice global news that matters d. w. made for minds. was the speech of his life perhaps his best and certainly his most difficult. the speech by hook or interest on december

19th 1989. shortly after the fall of the of the chancellor addresses the people of east germany. the mideast tense the crown clamors for the german unity journalist peter lim borg was at the scene. 30 years later he looks back on the time interest or. stores december 19th. w. i t change happen people just don't believe in the church the catholic church is not the moment it broke new rules this year on the holocaust hurndall sexual abuse in the catholic church have failed to satisfy victims' groups which still insist that the innocent are at risk from predatory clergy my guest this week period is the jesuit priest father hans solo or is an leading expert on sexual abuse among the

clergy is the vatican serious about real change or will it continue to provide opportunity and capa to priests to come.