this is deja vu news live from berlin and german lawmakers reject their controversial new opt out law to increase the supply of donated organs transplants are becoming increasingly difficult because not enough people declare that they're willing to donate their organs after they die the new law would have made transplants easier and help to desperately ill people to survive. also coming up the rain that finally falls in australia the southeast of the country celebrates as a downpour brings some relief from the bushfires crisis but now forecasters are

predicting possible flooding is this the new normal of climate change as scientists warn. the speaker of the house nancy pelosi signs articles of impeachment against president truong they were delivered to the senate where the trial will take place only the 3rd such trial in american history. and the invictus games are coming to germany the international sports event for wounded and traumatized war veterans established by britain's prince harry will take place in the city of disposal and 2022. i'm sumi so must conduct good to have you with us. germany's parliament has just rejected controversial legislation aimed at helping people who need organ donations the new opt out law would have assume that every citizen agrees to having their

organs transplanted after death unless they sign a declaration saying otherwise when they're alive now the german government is looking for ways to increase the supply of organs the country has the lowest organ donation rate in europe we'll have more on the vote in parliament shortly but 1st this report. function is job as a business consultant kept him on the road but then he was diagnosed with genetic lung disease he fought to stay healthy as long as he could but it became clear his health depended on getting a donated long time asked to speak yeah it's that when i 1st spoke to the doctors and they told me i needed a lung transplant if i was shot as. it's my long and i would have preferred to live the rest of my life with my own along. having someone else's lung was a concept he would have to get used to for just a few more examinations than his name could go on the waiting list for donor like

function you know there are around 1500 people in germany who are waiting for lifesaving organs to be donated and many of them have been waiting for years. does but the problem is dramatic in all of europe germany has the lowest number of organ donors the longest waiting lists and the highest number of patients whose lives are in danger if they do not receive an organ donation. all believe this is the case even though more than 80 percent of germans a positive about organ donations according to doctors one problem is that death and organ donation are in many families people simply don't talk about it and if it's not clear what the deceased would have wanted most relatives decided against organ donation or even when the patient wants to donate an organ donation doesn't take place so organs cannot be transplanted and presents on the waiting list. that was the case 900 times in 2018. or so there is

a need to address that problem here in germany but as we said parliament has rejected legislation that would automatically make all citizens organ donors unless they opt out our chief political editor michelle there because there has been following the vote in the bundestag for us and she joins us so as we said this legislation has failed to tell us what happened. yes basically the proposal by the current health minister again spahn which would have meant that everybody is assumed to be a donor unless you opt out has been clearly rejected but there was resoundingly support also now finally through. the parliament for an alternative proposal which is still an opt in solution where people have to actively become organ donors but it includes measures for the german government the state to double our efforts to basically get people to sign up and register to become all good once they die so no significant turnaround in policy here but

a pledge to do more and a recognition that 10000 people on the waiting list in germany would germany pretty much bottom of the list when it comes to european organ donors is no longer acceptable michelle are coming back to this original piece of legislation from the health health minister. there was a lengthy debate in parliament as well before the vote why has this been such a controversial issue. because it goes all across the party lines and m.p.'s here today were only bound by their conscience and we also even saw a preterist spawn the current health minister who was. very office and is in the same party being vehemently against this option saying it turned the constitutional relationship between state and citizen on its head that it was too intrusive into people's very personal rights of personal health and that

simply wasn't acceptable now this clearly found majority in the parliament here today michelle are looking at what has been decided that you just described this other piece of legislation we know the problem that germany has the lowest organ donation rate in europe will that change now going forward. well one could hope so at the very least there has been an intense public debate about this that in itself raises awareness germany will put more funding into raising awareness and ironically when there was a scandal surrounding organ donations in 2012 with people illegally moving up the list even that led to more people signing up so yes there's a hope that more people will sign up but there is clearly still no legal obligation for people to be donors unless they say otherwise our chief political editor of reporting at the bundestag for us thank you. let's get around now some of the other

stories making news around the world dozens of people have died in is live in syria in intense fighting between pro-government troops and jihad us led forces opposition groups say government airstrikes on a market in the city on wednesday also killed at least 15 civilians that's despite a truce that was brokered by russia and turkey. russian lawmakers are expected to confirm president vladimir putin's choice for the country's new prime minister. russia's government resigned yesterday after putin called for political reform there's speculation that putin will take on a new role when his term ends in 2024. u.s. president donald trump and chinese vice premier you hey have signed the 1st part of a new trade agreement the deal with the china purchased billions in u.s. agricultural and manufacturing goods as well as energy supplies stock markets posted major gains on the signing. police and protesters have clashed in the

lebanese capital beirut for a 2nd night the clashes began after a crowd gathered at a police station to demand the release of protesters who were taken into custody a day earlier. now a downpour of rain has brought some relief to south eastern australia after weeks of bushfires that were raging out of control and have been celebrating although the fire service says the downpours will not extinguish all the places and authorities are warning that severe thunderstorms and rains could trigger flash flooding so the possible swing from one extreme to the other comes as scientists predict that more extreme weather events are on the horizon after the warmest decade ever recorded experts have calculated the effect the massive australian bush fires will have on the global climate and here's what they found. a thick haze blankets new south wales as exhausted crews continue to battle the wildfires there the vast cloud of smoke already extends across the pacific past south america but an invisible

product of the flames could have a bigger long term impact on global warming the blazes are releasing vast amounts of c o 2 authorities at the un say the problem is twofold fires emit carbon dioxide and obviously they burn up those very forests which are so vital for actually carbon sinks and absorbing carbon dioxide in the australian government estimates the country currently in meds around $560000000.00 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually now experts say that in the last few months alone the out of control fires have pumped an additional $400000000.00 tonnes of c o 2 into the atmosphere. in the past scientists have generally viewed wildfires as carbon neutral and believed fresh plant growth eventually absorb the c o 2 emitted by burning forests but changes and precipitation patterns and drought are affecting how quickly some woodlands regenerate and many researchers are

worried that in a vicious circle wildfires like those in australia could make climate change happen even faster. let's get some more analysis on the story now we can bring in capetown joshi he's a science communications expert who focuses on energy and climate policy thank you for joining us tell us more about what exactly scientists are predicting for our future how it will look. so australian scientists have a bit of a long history in terms of trying to understand how climate change impacts fires in australia this goes back to the late eighty's in the early ninety's big country state science agency it's cool to see a slaughter and they predicted about a decade ago that push by would get worse in australia what they noticed is that this thing called forest fire danger index which measures the conditions required is trending upwards and they're predicting that trend is going to continue past possibly now so what we're starting to see now is the manifestation of that change

with these really severe fires but unfortunately if climate change continues as it is today it will get fall worse probably about twice as worse in terms of the number of days where these really dangerous conditions are present by that you get when t. 30 if you don't is it too late to mitigate the effect that these bushfires have had on the global climate. certainly not there is a little different things that it country can do to reduce its emissions of course seeking can read to renewable energy you can change a transport system all those sorts of things there is a bit of the lag between reducing emissions and the result in the impact on the state at the planet's climate but there is a relationship so the things that we do should a will have a big impact and it really mad is that we stop acting very soon the he said key town that australia and itself as pioneering the denial of climate disaster well what did you mean by that and how has that impacted climate action or in the lack there of in australia so this is a reference to both the reaction from the government in reactions that air from

some elements all of commentators across australia i would argue that they've sort of been stuck in a very very limited cycle for about a decade of denying of the problem exists but i would also counts of that by saying that the australian public his become increasingly support a good change sort of hopefully what happens in the me in the you 2020 use that the public precious starts to increase in that results in a change in other parts of australia as well key deny you confident that will happen that this public pressure will actually translate into greater action from governments not just in australia about across the world when it comes the climate policy i'm optimistic that the little happen i wouldn't say that i'm confident because the hood not to be confident about too many things what it comes to this issue but i think that australians care a lot about each other they care a lot about their and bar in minute of course the incredible natural world in the country and what they seeing right now as that that that natural well those and those people have being really heavily impacted sirte i think that will precipitate it big change in citizens of australia and i think that probably will have some

strong effect on the way and the direction the country in the new feature hugh 10 joshi thank you so much for joining us andi bands you're watching the news we'll have more on climate change coming up when we go to greenland where the glaciers may be melting but the economy is booming as global warming opens up new opportunities. but 1st in the u.s. house democrats have delivered the formal articles of impeachment against president trump to the senate the trial is due to start on tuesday it will be the only only the 3rd presidential impeachment trial in u.s. history. a ritual with historic significance lawmakers will comprise session from the house of representatives to the senate to deliver the articles of impeachment house has. read 7 i eat a resolution of point and on the right managers of the peach but. down

from the president of the united states. just a few minutes earlier house speaker nancy pelosi signed the 2 articles one for abuse of power and one for obstruction of the house she stressed the significance of the occasion this is as serious as it gets for any of us only the vote to declare war would be something more serious than that we take it very seriously it's not personal it's not political it's not partisan it's patriotic publicans arguing the exact opposite this is a political impeachment this has nothing to do with the fact we've shown that there was no nothing done wrong but that does not matter when the train is on the tracks the whistle is blowing impeach that matters and the only thing that matters one time where the only rule murda say here is that there are 2020 election in which

the democrats can't stand to see the fact this president is going to win to get the vote that set the impeachment trial in motion took place in the house here that i haven't the journal stands occur with 228293 a vote launch me along party lines the democratic controlled house agreed to send the 2 articles of impeachment to the senate and trigger the impeachment trial. in the house also appointed 7 impeachment manages to prosecute the case against trump . the u.s. president stands accused of abusing his power by pressuring ukraine to investigate democratic rival joe biden and for obstructing the house investigation into the case. the trial is expected to begin next week a guilty verdict that would remove trump from office would require a 2 thirds majority in the senate but with republicans in control of the upper

chamber the prospect seems very remote. people in the philippines who fled the erupting volcano near manila have been allowed to return home briefly to check on their property get ortiz have called the move a stress reliever amid uncertainty about how long the evacuees will need to stay away the towel volcano has forced tens of thousands to evacuate all kanak ash has fallen on the surrounding region and it's taking a heavy toll on farmland. in the. philippines but the al volcano has turned the landscape mana crime whole villages that blanketed in thick layers the volcanic ash and formerly lush plantations have been left unrecognizable. jack imperial has from pineapple for 17 years he says he's never seen such devastation. and.

the pineapples were all covered by thick mud we can't use them anymore. empiria one has a small stall at a local market and makes a living by selling pineapples to tourists not. almost all of his crops ruined. even if we were able to harvest some part of. if customers are scared to come because of the eruption the parliament bills will just end up rotting. an estimated 3000 hectares of land has been affected by ash fall and. and the agricultural damage has already exceeded 10000000 euros experts say that in the long term the volcanic ash will help replenish the soil making it more fertile in the future but before that farmers like jack imperial will have to survive the huge losses caused by destroyed crops. germany will be the next

host of the invictus games the international sports competition for wounded or traumatized war veterans the 6th edition of the games in 2022 will take place in the door for the competition is the brainchild of britain's prince harry who said it happened 24th keen athletes from 20 different nations compete in 9 disciplines this year's invictus games will be held in the netherlands now the german ministry of defense was involved in bringing the 2022 invictus games to disregard along with the german armed forces the bundeswehr german defense minister on a cup. is in london to announce the event and let's go to our correspondent there. she is that after the defense ministry covering this story for us. why has germany been chosen to host the invictus games in 2022 and what else did the german defense minister and outs. well it seems to me that the motto of

there was a very proud mayo accompanying and they did come by here in london and there more to was respect and rehabilitation and they said in the end there were 2 leading candidates one canadian city and this is off and then they chose to switch off because they they really like the for the games now i think it was also. about her position on on bragg's it and on bilateral relations between germany and the u.k. and she. painted a very positive picture of the bilateral relations but also she was equally she said there will be tough negotiations and there will be no cherry picking then when we look forward to the rest of her day here love the full royal which is really interesting she said she's looking forward to meeting prince harry and discussing the invictus games and the cooperation between germany and the u.k. in these games later on in the day all right our reporting there in london thank

you. let's talk more about the invictus games now we have. why are these games so important. because they represent the transformative and pivotal moment in one's recovery journey you know specifically when someone returns from conflict you know their sometimes wounded physically as well as mentally and you know the best thing about these games is they've helped turn the issue of mental mental health from a sad reality you know to a positive ending you know with the participation of this of it and just the fact that it's going to several additions you know thus far since 2014 nearly 1500 servicemen and women have participated from 18 different nations in the various number of events including you know the ball sitting volleyball as well as indoor.

growing you know so all in all i think it's remarkable you know what it's done and what it means to service men and women and on the families as well can we say it's had a real impact as well yeah definitely you know i could just you cite a few examples one u.k. competitors said they lost their identity and their ability but the invictus games you know gave them the confidence and also proved to them that they still have drive and determination another retired service member from germany says that he thinks the games are very important because it not only you know gives them the self-confidence but lets the world know that they are still capable of contributing to society and i think it's a win win situation not only for the competitors but also the spectators in 201870 percent of the spectators said that they felt that they were more informed of the challenges that servicemen and women have to endure and in deal with so i think it's very important and it's a unifying you know event and i expect it to stay the same in the future time as we

said the invictus games coming to germany in 2022 chris harrington from davies for thank you ok. to greenland now our people find themselves in the middle of an economic boom as we reported earlier the last decade was the warmest on record for the world with possibly dire consequences but in greenland the retreat of the arctic ice has opened up what some are greeting as new opportunities. the snow came late this winter even in greenland but now the island is looking how so many imagine it a place of eternal ice take you right out into the few words though and you soon see how greenland is changing even off the coast. because. we still finding caught here climate change hasn't affected that it's the opposite actually we're catching more cold than we used to. but halliburton craps they've

moved further north in. the arctic has warmed by 2 degrees since the end of the 19th century last summer more than 300000000 tons of ice melted in greenland alone a few remnants are still floating in the few words. greenland is experiencing a construction boom new flats and hotels are being built and the 3 airports in the country are being expanded and there's like a larson runs a taxi boat company in newark he started out with one boat now he's just ordered his 5th he says more and more tourists want to see the melting last year's. nowadays there's a lot of focus on climate change and you can see the effect of that most clearly here in greenland everyone's talking about our ice. the danes have known about it for a while but now the whole world is talking about it. this is the new container for

to know the melting ice is a load easier access to highly valuable mineral resources it's for this reason the united states and some choice here after president donald trump's failed attempt to buy greenland the u.s. wants to establish a new consulate here. but there is also opportunities with. for example possibly even patrolling the future and these are things that we want to be a part of. the fisherman and like many of his fellow greenlanders dreams of full independence from denmark but he also knows that the island relies on the millions of viewers and subsidies that come from copenhagen. i like the idea of greenland becoming independent this creates opportunities for us with the united states on one hand and germany and the rest of the world on the other we want freedom but

nobody should be able to buy us. donald trump on the climate situation of started something here in greenland the tide is changing for the world's biggest island. this is d.w. news these are our top stories heavy rain is brought relief to southeastern australia after weeks of bush fires raging out of control but authorities are warning that the downpour could trigger flash flooding it comes as scientists predict that more extreme weather events are on the horizon after the warmest decade ever recorded. germany's parliament has rejected controversial legislation aimed at helping people who need organ donations the new opt out law would have assume that every citizen agrees to having their organs transplanted after death unless they sign a declaration saying otherwise when they're alive. house democrats have delivered the formal articles of impeachment against president donald trump to the

senate the trial is due to begin there on tuesday it will be only the 3rd presidential impeachment trial in u.s. history. and the invictus games are coming to germany the 6th edition of a competition for injured or a traumatized war veterans will take place in the city of dissolute off in 2022 the u.k.'s prince harry founded the games in 24 teams. this is due to news from berlin for more follow us on twitter at u.w. news or visit our website w dot com. and finally large numbers of u.s. musicians have paraded through the streets of havana for the cuban capital's annual jazz festival in defiance of president donald trump's cuba policy cuban musicians played alongside visiting musicians from the u.s. city of new orleans they made it to the festival despite trump's tightening of restrictions on u.s. travel to the country music has long been a bridge between cuba and the u.s. the decades of trade and travel into the floor.

are you coming up next our show focus on europe australia might soon be home to the world's largest glacier ski resort but is good for the environment that's in just a few minutes thank you.

mr nisbet stone tally may become the biggest skiing region in the world slopes instead of pristine nature and an annoying mountain peak just blasted away. the customers one so that's the bottom line. is that may be true. so much tourism spam. delivered.

conflict so missed him sebastian. junger's recent celebrations for his 70th anniversary was quite the public relations triumph it was supposed to be my guest this week here in london is going to golf how does he justify china's comes along of human rights abuses i'm a continuing pressure on hong kong conflict so for 60 minutes g.w. folks. look closely. carefully i don't know who will soon. be it's too difficult.

to discover who. subscribe to the documentary on. please thank you hello and welcome to focus on europe i'm laura babylonia thanks for joining us today for millions of europeans it's the highlight of the winter season skiing in the alps the beautiful mountains and crisp.