this is g w news live from berlin is a standoff between germany and the u.s. now in the pipeline over russian natural gas the u.s. senate has approved sanctions on the north stream to pipeline president says he'll sign the bill into law berlin accuses washington of meddling could this be the start of a transatlantic sanctions will also coming up the french a trade unions take their protests into a 13th day tear gas on the streets as public sector employees a strike against pension reforms the president seems determined to press ahead with

his plans and pakistan's former military ruler pervez musharraf is sentenced to death after a court finds him guilty of treason will save him from the ultimate punishment. i'm bring up it's good to have you with us we start tonight with problems in the pipeline between germany and the united states the u.s. senate has backed sanctions on the nord stream 2 gas pipeline meaning that the measures now have passed both houses of the u.s. congress the u.s. wants to stop construction of the pipeline under the baltic sea which will transport russian natural gas directly to germany it's supposed to start operating in the coming months the u.s. says that the project will increase rushed. as political influence here in europe

u.s. sanctions could be met by retaliatory measures from the european countries invested in the pipeline and that includes german. art 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 brad 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 poll to see

which is worth you know over $10000000000.00 and essentially the idea is that it will you know double 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 sanctioned 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 it was a very good point to make sure. we have a member of the german parliament a member of the 40 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 coals 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 u.s. lawmakers 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 you know president vladimir putin's influence in europe that there were a few notable voices here who were very much in support of this one being ted cruz republican senator he said that holding the nord stream too should be a major security priority for the united states and europe alike 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 hi go ahead 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 what the relationship between the u.s. and europe could end up like this you know lol being signed. has to do with russia. or who was demoted washington public thank you. overage police have fired tear gas in paris as major labor unions hold

a day of strikes across the country the strikes come on the 13th day of protest against the government's controversial pension reforms it also marks the 1st time that all major unions have called for strikes since the protest movement began despite the public pressure president says he is determined to press forward with the plan. 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 it most george lopez barely managed to make it to work today he's frustrated to some from these old forfeits the government and the unions of behaving like small children it's all laid out 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 $62.00 to $64.00 to the will call their years it 6

year out left to work 5 years longer and get a smaller pension in order to see french president mikheil 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. it's time that the government drops these plans because if they don't it will be even harder to repair the damage the things you do see if you see what the government is calling thread to tucked. 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 use of the trains françois' couldn't come 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 says it's just something he'll have to get used to. and here are some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world pope francis has issues weaving changes to the way the roman catholic church

deals with cases of sex abuse of minors he says the rule known as people's secrecy will be abolished critics have accused the church of using the room as a justification for not reporting cases of abuse the leaders of south sudan's rival political factions say that they will form a unity government in february president salih here an opposition leader rick when char signed a peace deal last year to end a 5 year civil war but they have stalled on their agreement to govern together and that has prompted same sions by the united states thousands of people have rallied again in the czech capital to demand the resignation of prime minister andre baba's protesters who say the billionaire leader should divest himself of his business interests or step down his has rejected allegations of any conflict of interest romania is commemorating 30 years as the revolution that led to the fall of communism on december 17th 1989 dictator nicolae ceausescu gave the orders

to fire on protesters in the town of team. but the $59.00 deaths failed to stop the revolt and days later it spread to the capital bucharest and. was overthrown. the united nations is urging countries to share the responsibility for caring for the surging numbers of refugees speaking at the opening of the 1st global refugee forum in geneva switzerland today human secretary general antonio gutierrez said that the world owes those countries which have welcomed large numbers of refugees a debt of gratitude but he added that gratitude is not enough. just to be bold and concretes in the pledges to make these a moment for him. he said moment to jettison the mother of supports that too often left refugees for tickets with their lives on holes confined to camps just scrapping by unable to flood each of its. it is a moment to build

a more equitable response refugee crisis who is sharing given his false ability well antonio good here was there speaking earlier today about sharing responsibility that's something that lebannon knows a lot about it has had a big influx of refugees since 200 up in one and a half 1000000 people have fled there from the conflict in neighboring syria but an economic crisis in the country 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 niles in the mountains of levanon with her son behave they will earn around 3 euro for a few hours work i. have before i'm happy to help my mom and money. and so many at my feet and there's nothing worse than this if we had enough help we wouldn't 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 $1500000.00 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 plus i mean. that if the economy is shrinking the unemployment rate is also rising. employment among the lebanese has fallen by 50 percent. of them from seemingly before the economic crisis occasional jobs were available now a mirror 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. a court in pakistan has sentenced the country's former president pervez musharraf to death for high treason which are ruled from 1909 to 2008 after

leading a bloodless military coup against a civilian government he is now living in exile he was tried in absentia. and 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 book and complaint is fronts this complete is. it was just a victim i said i'm not i'm not that i'm not admitting the complaint there's no question of i kinda figured out that in that letter that the law is that people can go and it. actually the verdict is part of the ongoing followed from a short suspension of pakistan's constitution and 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 against the 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 ability to get ahead been punished by the court under the constitution and it all and it was overdue because constitution had been while it did no less than 4 or 5 times in these songs. for 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. are sports news now the bonus league is in action midweek and in the early game on tuesday mind braman a vicious 5 nil thumping the man of the match robin kweisi on

a hat trick in the span of 28 minutes in front of the crowd and braman the result puts 5 points between mites and the relegation zone italian football has been rocked by yet another racism controversy this time from the league itself siri a decision to use portraits of chimpanzees as part of its anti-racism campaign has stunned people on social media football italia the website said the artist wanted to. reclaim the use of 8 imagery from racist supporters but european football's anti-racism group. condemned the idea asking it is difficult to see what siri a was thinking he did they consult a good question italian also expressed surprise and said we don't believe that this is the right way to fight races coming up next d

w business news argentina's new government plans to tax its way out of a recession but are weary argentinians ready for higher taxes stephen beard's is going to have that and all the business news right after this break stay with us. what secrets lie behind. discover new adventures in 360 degree. and explore fascinating world heritage sites. d.w. world heritage 360 get the map now.