narrow the defining. 1900 the big. storms december 23rd. 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 building the pipeline from russian gas to germany well look at what if any impact those sanctions may actually have. also coming up australia's struggles to contain catastrophic bushfires and the worst may not be over we'll go

to sydney for the latest. and leipzig top the german soccer league heading into the winter break a 31 win at home to almost bird was enough to guarantee their lead in the bow to speak up we'll have that action and much more later in the show. i'm way a good craft glad to have you with us germany has objected strongly to u.s. sanctions against the north stream 2 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 going to 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. so all these 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 deal with the u.s. just wants more markets for their fracking gas who they want to force europeans to buy environment damaging fracking again to call for but the government didn't

berlin says it won't retaliate you know what i'm doing so we do not want to trade in warm weather on this issue or any other we believe that political differences should be resolved politically and shouldn't contribute to making the trade conflicts worse on this conflict. the consortium building north stream too says construction will continue but finishing the pipeline may now take longer and cost more. 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 has fueled 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 it happened quickly. we saw this mark and file basically rushing towards us over the

hill and basically every minute it was probably had a kilometer. before eventually it just hit a fence and we're pretty much there finding the ass off the fires or some of us trail is most extensive over 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 a forest on fire wildlife have nowhere else to go pushing the animals poster to people's backyards and into their homes record temperatures powerful winds and low humidity are creating the conditions for the fires to spread presidents say the constant danger is something they've learned to live with. we not i that probably only a matter of. days oh wait well we have a not just struck it down. will definitely stop

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. earlier australia's prime minister scott morrison held a press conference on the bushfire crisis sydney based journalist roger maynard told us more about it. scott morrison the prime minister flew back from why last night for weeks all over it while australia was a centrally burning that didn't go down too well with the electorate so in many ways in addition to talking about the fire is also in 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 them to my house 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. question 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 well that's not to say there is a time to talk up 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 do that 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 blue here all the light 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 you 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 at the beginning to join up to form one great mega blaze a conflagration if you like and the fire commissioner was talking this morning of the possibility of that far moving further towards sydney and if it did that of course then a lot of people would be at risk. and grief if you can climate change you mention that's got more sand have mentioned it has how is that played into this conversation well i think he's all the see it doesn't reflect 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 bushfires or or even to the drought but now it seems they're coming around where i think the problem is in australia relies an enormous amount on for 2 peoples a coal fired power stations it makes on a $60000000000.00 a year from exporting its told us there's a lot to lose if a straight. cuts out fossil fuels and tries to pursue more renewable energy but there are signs today that the government's mood might be changing they might have got the message will right roger manner in sydney thank you very much for that update. alice 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 is this same christmas market where in islamised terrorist attack killed 12 people 3 years ago. in india the death toll in protests against a controversial new citizenship law has risen to at least 23 police say more than 600 people have been arrested demonstrators clashed with police across the country despite curfews and tough measures aimed at stopping protests. sports now in german soccer are top of the blueness league as the league goes into the christmas break the team secured top spot with a $31.00 win at home to our. second. hausberg coach martin schmidt managed to smile as he greeted his counterparts in leonardo's mon. against leipzig of all teams philip max would have to sit out the match with

a sore throat leaving it all up to his strike partner lucky i need election. and he rose to the occasion opening the scoring for the visitors with their 1st chance in just the 8th minute of my the 8th goal of the season for the summer newcomer. my checking video replay for a possible offside took 2 and a half minutes which is better to feel the fire for opponents of the system who say it kills the mood i'm after that leipzig woke up to a but they couldn't capitalise on any of their 1st half chances of a bit but that changed in the 68th minute when conrad lima got hold of the ball. the austrian netting the long overdue equaliser by it was like 6 sixteenth's shot in the game and they finally managed to take advantage of one. but say wanted

to make sure they went into the winter break top of the table and that was guaranteed 12 minutes later when patrick shit i shipped off felix the duo and headed in to make it to one of the who. likes it played a clever game the rest of the way team obana stepped on the gas and set up substitute use of pulse and 5 to tap in and round out the $31.00 spore line in the final minutes. it's all very tight all the top teams are there in the mix be a lot of big things happening for us in spring. and. fall to like this next year and that's. this in the summer that's but 1st leipzig will be having a merry christmas at the top of the table. second place meaning a win against had to have berlin to keep them level on points with the league

leaders but they found it tough going in the german capital. that's about in season has brightened up of late they were looking to spoil got back to christmas with a 3rd straight victory to pulling his best 1st off chance came from a free kick when these counterattack ended in a foul on davies i made one move and stepped up. his effort crashed off the crossbar much to the relief of a stranded here and zama in the club by name. at the other end the photos were inaccurate markers to ram was denied by rooney yasht i'm an offside florrie annoyed house school ended the rebound and the school's stay left. marco was aside not performing like credible contenders for the title. to direct posses in the 2nd half gave got back the best shots of the game but on the side play our fight to make it count another simple safer yosh. still time to squander one more opportunity before

the whistle but he is good to his misuse shoulder swipe symbolic of got back struggle in front of the answer go marco rose's disappointment is you're going cleans man's heart for rewards while got back now full 2 points behind lights and hats ahead into the winter break unbeaten in 4 league games. and byron munich continued their run of wins on saturday with a 2 nil victory over goal spec by and have lost a number of 1st team players to injury and that means opportunities for some up and coming stars such as 18 year old joshua sexy. but down to the bare bones a midfielder and a forward helped make up the back line as well spokane prowling for points the midfielder in question having martinez was forced to limp open the 1st half to an out of sorts jerome but saying his replacement at the back fire on top threw out of philly could see me almost scoring with this stunning strike in the 51st minute

couldn't catch steals with a miraculous save to keep things level. another example of defensive heroics or jerome bruce alone picked thomas miller's pocket at the back post soon after the french went out of nowhere to save the day. the wolves they went close themselves might see on all shot the flick think just wide of the post all of a class not knew that this was his side's best chance of stealing all 3 points. 10 minutes to go continue all of us was a c. on the 18 year old repeat wednesday's match winning debut heroics just 2 minutes later the youngster turned home a mile across to win my 2nd consecutive game for by munich. and every pushed aside now that confidence but cannot be put the game to bed late on slotting home of the robert leventhal ski team up for a simple finish. off cycles waved away as handy for side graft another victory but

what of the interim coach future. he'll be our man to some or at least we'll see how things develop but he's doing a good job we're very happy with the development of the squad and we're very satisfied with him and with the way he's conducted himself in public since that suspicion boy wonder does it again as boy get the points. up next reporter in the search for the perfect straight don't miss it that's all for now enjoy. what secrets lie behind these walls. discover new adventures in 360 degree. and explore fascinating worth heritage sites. w world heritage 360 get the maps now.