this is g.w. news live from berlin germany decries u.s. sanctions against north stream to. president trump signed off on those sanctions targeting companies working on the pipeline intended to bring russian gas to germany well look at what if any impact those sanctions might actually have. also coming up australia struggles to contain catastrophic bushfires the worst may not be over we'll go to sydney for the latest. at least 23 people die in violent protests against a new indian citizenship law muslims say it marginalizes that. i'm

way of blue cross glad to have you with us germany has objected strongly to u.s. sanctions against the north stream to gas pipeline from russia to germany the sanctions target companies involved in the construction of the pipeline which runs under the baltic sea washington says north stream too will give russia too much power over europe and it's offering its own gas as an alternative. the gas pipeline has just 300 kilometers to go this signature aims to stop it dead in the water the new u.s. law imposes sanctions against companies building the pipeline washington says north stream 2 will make germany too dependent on russian energy none of your business says german vice chancellor scholtz. sanctions constitute serious interference in

the internal affairs of germany and europe and of our own sovereignty we have checked to them in the strongest terms moreover this behavior is entirely in comprehensible and is not at all appropriate between friends and nato allies. the sanctions target companies like swiss based all sees it operate ships that lay pipelines at sea but because the sanctions could threaten business the company does in the united states its announced its suspending work on north stream too many german politicians are outraged by the american measures. just wants more markets for their fracking gas they want to force europeans to buy environment damaging fracking again. but the government in berlin says it won't retaliate but i'm we do not want to trade war whether on this issue or any other we believe that political differences should be resolved politically and shouldn't contribute to making a trade conflicts worse conflict. the consortium building north stream 2 says

construction will continue but finishing the pipeline may now take longer and cost more. so with just a few 100 kilometers of work to go we asked our chief political editor. if the project can be stopped. no and it's actually very unlikely that u.s. sanctions will stop this project from going a hot head over all because it's more strategic than it is a technical question at the moment there's a swiss company that is simply afraid to continue any work because of the threat of sanctions and they have specialty ships technology you can't replace but you also can't replace the strategic alliance between germany and russia on this particular point of energy security of energy supplies this is a project that's also been hot these bases within the european union and the united states simply wants to kill it it's unlikely it will do so because it's also

a matter of principle even for the opponents that imposing sanctions against international law and how international business is currently done. you know use chief political editor. now australia's bushfire crisis is going from bad to worse fire crews are struggling to contain the spread of blazes around sydney a combination of record temperatures drought and powerful winds powered the inferno at least 8 people have died since the fires began. the smoking remains of a home after bushfires swept through the area. these residents in new south wales fought the fire as well as they could before firefighters arrived and took over just happened quickly. we saw this mark and basically rushing towards us over the hill and basically every minute it was probably another kilometer closer.

before eventually they just hit a fence and pretty much they're finding the ass off. the fires are some of us truly is most extensive ever they have left 30000 square kilometers of charred land in their wake since october over $800.00 homes have been destroyed several states are affected this blaze was raging in the country's south on the outskirts of the city of adelaide with the forest on fire wildlife have nowhere else to go pushing the animals closer to people's backyards and into their homes record temperatures powerful winds and low humidity her creating the conditions for the fires to spread presidents say the constant danger is something they've learned to live with. we know i that probably only a matter of. days oh wait well we have another. that. will be definitely and ready. the sheer scale of these bush

fires is pushing fire and rescue services to their limits and the fires are still getting worse. now for more on the situation we're joined live by roger maynard in sydney roger thanks for joining us prime minister scott morrison just held a press conference tell us what's the latest he said what's the latest on the fires and efforts to contain them. our scholars in the prime minister flew back from hawaii last night out time up for weeks all over it while australia was essential a burning that didn't go down too well with the electorate so in many ways in addition to talking about the fire it was been trying to defend his position among reporters that this morning he went immediately to the new south wales fire headquarters in sydney and appeared to get a little testy when he faced reporters and asked if he was sorry for local people who lost their homes now he said i've already said this and he went on to defend

the his absence on the grounds that he was taking a normal family holiday and the debris you need to know had been told so he didn't try to shift the the questioning to a certain extent he said trying to be a little bit more upbeat he said it was no time for point scoring but time to support people who have an important job to do the time for argument is not now he said but that's not to say there is a time to talk about climate change but let's do it in a way that does not distract from the very immediate need of protecting people's lives you know it is all busy and begins to the bit at the moment and trying to restore his image of you like right and give us more of a sense of this fire australia is no stranger to fires natural disasters what what does this mean for australians. well an enormous amount of flour has broken out right across much of the new south wales and also into southern queensland parts of the torah and into very serious fires in south australia too most people you talk

to lived here all their lives say they can't remember a time when the fires have been so extensive and so intense it's almost unprecedented that they say we've got some big fires in the blue mountains west of sydney now fortunately this isn't a particularly habited area and a lot of people live there but we've still got quite a few little villages and small towns that fires there are a number of fires burning in in this area and the danger is that the beginning to join up to form one great mega blaze a conflagration if you like and the fire commissioner that was talking this morning of the possibility of that far moving further towards city and if it did that of course then a lot of people would be at risk and grief if you can climate change you mentioned scott morrison had mentioned how is that played into this conversation well i think he's always if it doesn't reflect on us of

a sort of tipping point in the way that this government is viewing climate change scott morrison the government has been very reluctant to link climate change to the bush fires or even to the drought but now it seems they're coming around that well i think the problem is an australia relies on an almost amount on force of people's coal fired power stations it makes on a $16000000000.00 a year from exporting its told us and there's a lot of loose interest rate. cuts out fossil fuels and tries to pursue more renewable energy but there are signs today that the government's mood might be changing that they might have got the message will right roger mannering sydney thank you very much for that update. thank you. now let's take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world. police in berlin have given the all clear at a christmas market after briefly evacuating the area due to fear of suspicious activity despite initial reports no suspicious packages were found nor were any

arrests made it's the same christmas market where in islamic terrorist attack killed 12 people 3 years ago. romanians have been marking the 30th anniversary of the country's revolution dignitaries including president klaus and on us attended the ceremony commemorating those who died during the struggle to break free from communist rule there was a moment of silence for victims of the country's security forces who shot dozens of protesters in 1989. a court in pakistan has sentenced a university lecturer to death for blasphemy junaid is accused of insulting the islamic prophet muhammad on social media his lawyer says he'll appeal the south asian country has tough laws for insulting islamic figures which is punishable by death. at least 23 people have been killed in violent protests in india against

a contentious new law it gives legal immigrants who have fled religious persecution a chance to apply for indian citizenship but that doesn't apply to muslims they're calling it discrimination and a violation of india's secular constitution. these women in some state expressed their objection to the new citizenship no peacefully with a citizen and a feel that their muslim assamese and they see the legislation as part of a hindu nationalist agenda that may have deeper discrimination they're afraid they'll become a minority. the government is taking steps that will result in a disappearance of the assamese identity if the assamese people are to not protest our language would disappear here. 5 there are 200000000 muslims in india and an ease about the new no one has spread across the country critics of prime minister narendra modi and his government say making citizenship easy if

a known muslim immigrants than for muslims undermines the constitution they want to divide the indian society based on religion they want to create separation distance and if. there are fears among indian muslims that they could become 2nd class citizens in their own country. and the rising death toll is police crackdown on protests is only fueling those he is. new zealand has ended a gun buyback program initiated after a terror attack at 2 mosques in christ church killed 51 people earlier this year the government banned certain semi automatic weapons giving owners in till yesterday to turn them in in exchange for compensation the government calls the program a success but not everyone is happy. getting guns off the street literally people were still turning in their firearms on the last day of the buyback program

the government says more than 30000 weapon owners participated turning in over 50000 guns but i do believe that our communities are just a little bit safer for. 6 months but there is still a lot more to do and i'm confident that the new zealand police can do that and be the safest country in the world. the measure followed an anti muslim rampage at 2 christ church mosques in march of this year when a single gunman killed $51.00 people the massacre shocked the country where mass shootings were extremely rare prime minister just in the ardor and moved quickly to ban semi-automatic weapons like the one the gunman used the legislature passed it nearly unanimously. mrs speaker we are here because 5050 people died and they do not have a voice we in this house are the voice and today mr speaker we have you say voice wisely. further legislation now moving through parliament would create

a registry to track all guns police say that's intended to make it harder for criminals and gangs to get access to weapons. but in a country where many farmers and hunters are attached to their guns the measure has faced some resistance. it is a huge amount of forums on those that. i'm aware that they are going to become criminals come tomorrow even as the buyback and the amnesty continues meaning gun owners can still turn in weapons with no questions asked but anyone caught with a banned weapon faces 5 years in prison. coming up after the break it's the bonus leader with nick mckenna kline came into matchday 17 level on points with league leaders leipsic. were hoping their rivals would stumble allowing them to reclaim the top spot domingue into the winter break

find out what happens next in the distance. don't forget you can get all the latest news on our website w dot com or follow us on twitter at d w news i weigh in blue cross in berlin thanks for joining us. we speak different languages we fight with different things that's fine let me 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. in the. climate change.