this is g w news why with marilyn a standoff between germany and the u.s. over russian natural gas the u.s. senate has approved think sions on the nord stream to pipeline president trump says he'll sign the bill into law religion is accusing washington of meddling could this be the start of the transatlantic sanctions we were also coming up the pope border's a major change in the catholic church leaving no place to hide 1st sex abusers pope francis has removed the cover of people secrecy meaning victims of sexual abuse

will be able to go to the police to report the crime without fear of excommunication from the church and tear gas on the streets of france as unions take their strikes in protest against pension reforms into a 13th day the president seems determined to press ahead with the plan and pakistan's former military ruler pervez musharraf is a sentence to death after a court finds him guilty of treason will exile save him from the ultimate punishment. i bring off to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we start with problems in the pipeline between germany and the united states the u.s. senate today has backed sanction. on the nord stream 2 gas pipeline by

a huge majority meaning that the bill has now passed both houses of congress and u.s. president trump says he will sign it into wall st john's target a pipeline that is being built under the baltic sea to transport russian natural gas to germany it's supposed to start operating as early as next month the u.s. opposes the project saying that it will increase russia's political influence here in europe the move to implementations could be met by retaliatory measures from the european countries that are invested in the pipeline including germany. all right for more let's go to our correspondent in washington public he's on the story for us tonight good evening to you pablo so we've got a construction of nord stream to you which began in may of 2018 so it's kind of late for the threat of sanctions to become real why are u.s. lawmakers planning to slap sanctions on these companies now.

hi brant well essentially this measure is part of a huge annual defense spending package for 20 twentieth's called the national defense authorization act and congress and the senate have passed it with ease and it's now as you said president trump who has to sign it he is expected to sign it that's what's being said here in the u.s. the aim is to stop further construction of this pipeline under the pole fixie which is worth you know over $10000000000.00 and essentially the idea is that it will you know double as shipments of russian natural gas to germany the thing about this is that as soon as it's signed the trumpet ministration would have 60 days to identify companies and individuals providing services on the pipeline and then they would be sanctionable brant what i think is very important to note is that this hasn't really had a lot of traction here in the united states today because of course the focus is

very much on the impeachment vote against president trump in congress which is expected to take place you know on wednesday of this very good point to make sure west we are we have a member of the german parliament a member of the for the fears committee who said basically that this pipeline has been controversial in germany but the fact that the u.s. is now threatening sanctions means that all political parties will rally around the chancellor and support this pipeline do you think that members of congress and the u.s. are they aware of what they're doing how are they justifying the the poles who will fix your. well i think you're absolutely right and pointing out you know that of course in europe this is definitely getting more traction than here us little makers are claiming that you know the pipeline words essentially send billions of dollars to russia and it would lead to you know an increase in that you know

president vladimir putin say influence in europe that there were a few notable voices here who were very much in support of this one being ted cruz a republican senator he said that holding the north stream to should be a major security priority for the united states and europe a life because he was saying that europe should basically focus their attention on you know building out or having strong relations with the united states with regards to energy and avoid being economically blackmailed by russia is what he said but there have also been voices who were very much against the sanctions here in the u.s. they said that it could end up jeopardizing the relationship between europe and the u.s. and that was not really what the u.s. should be focusing on and if anything to go by you know you mentioned you know that you had guests there but let's not forget that last week at the german foreign minister heiko mass pretty strong words to say and he was saying that you know the u.s. should avoid meddling in european energy policy so you know from from those words

it's sort of quite telling watched the relationship between the u.s. and europe could end up like this you know law being signed. that it has to do with russia. probably the worst about it washington public thank you so here's some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world thousands of people have rose again in the czech capital to demand the resignation of the country's prime minister and the protesters say that the billionaire leaders should divest himself of his business interests were stepped down this rejects allegations in the conflict of interest. romania is commemorating 30 years as the revolution that led to the fall of communism on december 17th $1809.00 dictator nicolae ceausescu gave the order to fire on protesters in the town of. but

the 59 deaths failed to stop the revolt and days later it spread to the capital bucharest who was overthrown. the leaders of south sudan's rival political factions say they will form a unity government in february president salva kiir an opposition leader. signed a peace deal last year to end a 5 year civil war but they have stalled on their agreement to govern together prompting sanctions by the united states. francis has announced as weaving changes to the way the roman catholic church deals with cases of sex abuse he's abolished the papal secrecy laws meaning they will no longer apply in accusations trials and decisions involving sexual abuse critics have accused the church of using paypal secrecy to justify decisions to keep cases away from the police and civil authorities as. well for more i'm joined now by james

alludes zaki is an advocate for victims and he's an investigator of clergy sex abuse he's a former priest himself as well as a survivor of sex abuse in the church he joins us from buffalo in the u.s. state of new york it was good to have you on the show how significant is this change. the pope would like you to think that this is a sweeping change and to talk about the lifting of the pontifical secret is a very dramatic way to talk about this but the reality on the street for victims like myself and advocates is that nothing significant has changed by this and kind of tell me what does this mean for someone who's not a catholic over people you know outside the catholic world looking at this story does this mean if someone confesses to a priest for example about sexual abuse about doing it committing it or being done

that the priest now has to go to the authorities i mean what exactly does it mean lifting this papal secrecy. the communique today from the vatican suggested just the opposite of that they're not lifting confessional secrecy such that if a child were to confess to a priest that he or she had been abused that protection of the perpetrator that confession that protection of the confessional seal is still in place the most remarkable statement that came from the vatican today was from the secretary for the commission on legislative texts that interprets these matters and what they're trying to do is they're saying they're very storing a protocol of protection for the good reputation of everyone involved the particular church law canon for 71 is still in place nothing significant has changed by this so what does this mean at the end of the day then are we going to

see does this change help in the fight to stop sex abuse by the clergy and does it help to bring cases of sex abuse to light. it really doesn't seem to do anything in terms of opening up the files of a given diocese or the tribunals process a victim a witness that effective brings is now free they were always free to to talk about their material the church is simply letting them off the hook but the rest of the church's internal procedures nothing has changed by this document nothing has changed by this rescript issued by the vatican they they want to try to still protect those who are defendants in these cases those who are accused and they undermined that goal today in the press conference at the vatican ok james fallows ochterlony us tonight from buffalo new york james we appreciate your time and your

insights thank you so much. french police have fired tear gas in months and paris major labor told me they have strikes across the country the strikes from on the 13th day of protest against the government's controversial pension reforms it also marks the 1st time that all major trade unions have called for astroids since the protest movement began despite the public pressure for its president says he is determined to press forward with the plants. every day for 2 weeks has been a nightmare with unruly crowds trying to force their way onto the few trains or buses still running commuters from the outskirts of paris feel that most george lopez barely managed to make it to work today he's frustrated. sushi from the zone for if it's the government and the unions are behaving like small children it's

always they constantly blaming each other and it's working people have to pay. another day another strike and once again hundreds of thousands of people are on the streets throughout france they're protesting pension reform plans that would raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 through the will call the years it sure out left to work 5 years longer and gets a smaller pension in order to see french president claimed as king louis the 16 who was beheaded the pressure is mounting all of france's unions have joined the movement some are even threatening to continue the strikes over christmas. or it's time that the government drops these plans because if they don't it will be even harder to repair the damage. to see if you see what the government is calling thread to tot. blown up there you did know it trains need to keep running over christmas not for the government and not for the unions but for the french people

it was just the trains france sit a false talks will continue on wednesday george is on his way home he'll have to take a. subway bursting at the seams he said it's just something you have to get used to . for the united nations has urged countries to share the responsibility for caring for these surging numbers of refugees speaking at the opening of the 1st global refugee forum in geneva switzerland today u.n. secretary general antonio gutierrez said the world owes those countries which have welcomed large numbers of refugees a debt of gratitude but he says gratitude is not enough i urge you to be bold and concrete in the pledges to make these a moment for him. he's a moment to jettison a model of support that too often left refugees for decades with their lives on holes confined to camps just scraping by unable to slaughter each of confidence

it is a moment to build a more equitable response to that it's a crisis through a sharing of responsibility it was antonio gutierrez they are talking about sharing of responsibilities when lebanon can talk about that it is a country that has had a big influx of refugees since 201118 half 1000000 people have fled there from the conflict in neighboring syria but an economic crisis means that finding work has become difficult for both lebanese and refugees. amir hussein is lucky today she can work in this firewood company near the refugee camps of nile in the mountains of levanon with her son by hey they will earn around 3 euros for a few hours work. hard before i'm happy to help my mom and money for. so many of my feet and there's nothing worse than this if we had enough help we would have to do this work on. a mirror and her son each receive less than one euro a day from the u.n.

just enough for them to survive but not enough for an education for her son even if they work sporadically it's a similar situation for most of the estimated 1500000 syrian refugees in lebanon there is no hope for improvement on the contrary the political and economic crisis has cost many lebanese citizens and refugees alike their jobs. no but i doubt that if the economy is shrinking the unemployment rate is also rising. unemployment among the lebanese has fallen by 50 percent. of them from seemingly before the economic crisis occasional jobs were available now and mirah is never sure whether she will be able to work to earn extra money to add to the small amount of u.n. aid she receives now a simmering statistic for those of us who report the news in 2001949 journalists were killed doing their job in pakistan and somalia the good news is that that

number is at a 16 year low the bad news is that more journalists are being detained arbitrarily tonight $389.00 journalists are in prison somewhere around the world china tops the list with $120.00 journalists behind bars that we know of it's hard to get the real numbers from china followed by egypt saudi arabia syria and if you see right there turkey reporters without borders says that homemade threats against journalists are growing they include politicians attacking the media from washington d.c. to manila and in iran journalists were recently arrested simply for trying to report on recent protests against a hike in gas prices as our next report shows the iranian government has also intensified its harassment of persian speaking journalists working abroad. nutra book grotty knows what it means when press freedom is threatened the editor

in chief of prague based radio farda the persian service of radio free europe radio liberty says harris must have excellent journalists by the iranian regime has escalated during the current protests. intelligence officers have been. operating different accounts and different websites in order to the frame the journalist protests against fuel price rises erupted in iran in november the state responded with violence and nationwide internet blackouts domestic media have faced increased censorship and broadcasters based abroad are among the only other sources of information that their reporting appears to have angered the iranian regime. who normally what they do all day summoned their parents. to iranian intelligence ministry at quarters. and they force them to

contact their loved ones and to tell them to resign immediately and they say if they don't resign we would bring them back to iran some overseas persian language media have had the assets confiscated and their journalists branded as terrorists but despite the risks the exiled reporters say they will continue their work in their words journalism is not a crime or here are some other stories making headlines police in australia have arrested 2 men suspected of smuggling more than 600 kilograms of ecstasy hidden inside hundreds of barbecues it wraps up a 6 month investigation spanning 3 countries in july police in cyprus tipped off authorities about a possible shipment of barbecue ecstasy headed to sydney. the european space agency has postponed the launch of

a 3 year mission to study planets in other solar systems mission control made the decision after discovering a software error in the soyuz rocket due to put the key ops telescope into orbit around the earth. a court in pakistan have sentence the country's former president pervez musharraf to death for high treason ruled from 1909 to 2008 after leading a bloodless military coup against a civilian government he's now living in exile and he was tried in absentia. the sentence has been a long time coming for former pakistani president pervez musharraf seen here at a court hearing in 2013. the verdict guilty of treason the sentence death. sharp's lawyer rejected the court's decision calling on pakistanis to stand by the former ruler i said this this complaint is far it's this complete is. it was just a victim i said i'm not i'm not that i'm not admitting the complaint that this look

that's enough i kind of figured out that in that letter that the law is that the people can go and it. to divert it is part of the ongoing followed her mission and suspension of pakistan's constitution in 2007. the move ignited one spurred protest leading to his resignation. he may have lost popular support but the former general continued to have his backers in the country's powerful military. today's verdict is seen by many as a strike by the courts i can see army's grip on the reins of power. this is a unique decision of the. in the history of plug a son then for the 1st time in miller to get it had been punished by the court under the constitution under the law and it was over due because constitution had been while it did no less than 4 or 5 times and they hear about some. of the time

being at least the death sentence is unlikely to be carried out correctly the sheriff is currently in exile in dubai where he is seeking medical treatment. where thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in the gumby as capital bunch they're demanding that the president borrow respect his pledge to quit the president defeated former autocrat jon benet in elections in the tiny west african state back in 2016 he promised to rule for 3 years before stepping down but now says he will govern now until 2019 but until 2021. 3 years he has written on their posters translated from the local language wall of this says 3 years are up 10 thousands of gambians took to the streets in the capital banjul they want the president out of a barrow to step down in january. and now the president is moving to talk that

government was going to fight you've got 5 he's going to talk this is why you have to put a minute just i think it's all of us are going to going to we're going to have the argument that will go by electors this document your employer was the police officer for that. barrel confirmed after his swearing in that he would be the head of the transitional government and would make way for general elections after 3 years but now he wants to serve a full 5 year term as guaranteed by the constitution. gambians are divided about barrow's achievements the work of a truth and reconciliation commission is seen widely positive witnesses speak out and the country is trying to get over the trauma of the 22 year long brutal regime of the former dictator yeah yeah. but the unemployment rate is still very high especially among young people. the civil society is gaining strength the proof for these demonstrations in the 3 years of barrow's presidency gambians have learnt it

is now possible to speak out for their own beliefs and convictions. so the question is now a valid one will the boeing 737 max ever leave the ground again yesterday the u.s. plane manufacturer boeing announced it is suspending production of its 737 max airliner beginning in january the entire fleet was grounded last march following 2 fatal crashes in just 5 months boeing has not delivered any new 737 max is since then and that is key here the 737 max is boeing's best selling plane boeing is also the largest industrial employer in the united states the suspension will have knock on effects for parts suppliers thousands and thousands of jobs are now in jeopardy . there are 400 brand new 737 max aircraft parked in boeing's holding area they've been grounded since april this year some are even parked in the employee parking lot the production stop slated for this coming january is

a drastic measure and it's bad for boeing's $12000.00 employees i think hauling production as is a pretty major downside that disrupts the whole supply chain that puts labor and terrible spot causes. a real loss of the economies of scale that this airplane has that you keep that assembly line go on because of all the efficiencies in october 28th seen as 737 max crashed in indonesia then another one went down in ethiopia last march 346 passengers were killed in those 2 plane crashes with the 737 max is faulty steering software playing a decisive role in both incidents so far boeing has been unable to deliver a software correction that can be approved by the u.s. federal aviation administration the 737 is boeing's best selling aircraft airlines of place thousands of orders so u.s. airlines and european air carriers have had to cancel flights due to lack of

aircraft the airlines themselves are in just a terrible spot because they're selling spring break they're selling summer without knowledge of what their fleet is and all parties need to have complete transparency here so we can come up with some reasonable plan you know get this crisis get things back on track the loss of production at boeing might have a ripple effect that could burden the entire u.s. economy. for some of the search for a soulmate is a life long quest if you're in a hurry there's always speed in japan however speed dating now comes with an unexpected addition mom and dad the singles who are looking for love in our next report have asked to remain and not. in a nondescript banquet room in the world's largest metropolis a group of japanese men and women search for the spark that could change their lives it's a speed dating event with

a twist the singles have come with their parents to support them in their hunt 1st suitable partner. that was 2 of the really bad she had boyfriends when she was a student but those relationships didn't work so i told myself maybe now it's up to me to give her a hand what you took. i came here today after being pushed by my mother because it's true that so far i've had trouble meeting the right person. to think to be open and. participants to live questionnaires and exchange small talk with mom and dad there to give them a gentle push towards pairing up. what. may be outdated but i think parents know their children best what the character strengths are and their weaknesses. so i start at these events thinking that that

might be less divorce if parents look for their child soulmate all day. it's a nerve wracking a vent for both generations but they overcome their inhibitions in the hope to us somewhere in the room they'll find a perfect match. list or find their parents. to take you through the big stick around for that.

grappling with some tricks. expressing feelings i am not very fond of yet but i would love to be considered an artist one day looking for new perspectives real hard to hold and not reply ms fake revia kaminak doing things differently to. come to the place where we reflect on society. march 21 on w. . it's all happening though it's

a very difficult. door link to use from africa and the world. your link to exceptional stories and discussions hello and welcome to the news after going program tonight from for an exemption from the news of easy now i would say the devil that comes from africa join us on facebook at d. w. africa. was the speech of his life perhaps his best certainly his most difficult. the speech by a school in dresden on december 19th 1989. shortly after the fall of the round of the chancellor. addresses the people of east germany in. the mideast tense. clambers german unity journalist pete on the bloke who was at the scene. 13 years later looks back on the.

interesting. starts december 19th t w. the number of journalists killed in 2019 marks a 16 year low the reason fewer people are taking the risk to report from war zones and 2019 for the 1st time not a single journalist died while working abroad tonight the growing dangers in our backyards myth that misinformation like never before political leaders openly attacking a free press and voters bombarded with the message don't trust the media i'm burned off in berlin this is the day.