number of troops stationed here in germany from 34000 to no more than 25000 it's a major class and apache neither germany nor nato received notice before we did it blindsided by a bully it's not exactly how allies usually treat allies well donald trump it's become business as usual i'm christine mundo in berlin standing in for brain golf this is the day. i said get out get out i can't guarantee. that we're protecting you and it means a lot more to you they're protecting our troops i am not sure protection we'll get by protecting you begin with the way the german government has been informed that the u.s. administration is considering reducing the presence of u.s. forces in germany. is the fact is that the presence off united states soldiers in

germany so that overall security off the nato alliance. also coming up tonight the coronavirus is not going away they may be lifting lockdowns india and in the u.s. but in africa more lockdowns may be on the way the devil wants the pandemic is accelerating we know that 90 days to reach 100000 cases and only 19 days to move 220-0000 cases so even though these cases and less than 3 percent of the global toto is clear that the pandemic is accelerating. we begin the day with news of a shrinking u.s. military presence here in europe the government or the german government says it has received word from washington that the number of u.s. troops stationed here will be reduced. president donald trump has ordered the

removal of nearly $10000.00 troops from germany that would cut the total number stationed in the country by if but berlin isn't the only ally coming under pressure from the trump administration the white house has also os japan to significantly up its contribution to maintaining american forces the u.s. has guaranteed japan's defense since the end of world war 2 it has more than $50000.00 personnel stationed at facilities across the country washington puts the price tag at some $5700000000.00 much of which is already paid for by japan now the cost sharing agreement is due to be renegotiated next year japan is already spending more on defense but on its own forces. soldiers practice landing unfitness vehicles in a picturesque bay on japan south coast drive out open the hatch climbs the hatch and then head back to the beach it's as if they were planning to start off unusual

sometime soon perhaps around the officer and commanders not allowed to talk to us about back. to duty others it's important to train the soldiers one is the driver one's the huntsman it's not always easy to make a team out of them you know you're pretty true. according to its constitution japan isn't supposed to have an army and many wanted to stay that way. we don't want to pander fire to most all over the world not even on american sorry that's why we're against the drills. even so tokyo seems to be preparing to enter the military world stage the defense minister recently deployed this destroyer to the gulf of amman in an interview he says is a completely harmless mission. is aware of his own power he wants to become prime minister would you ben like to play a more. if rol military role on the world stage we believe sending our destroyer

to the region to get enough information to secure the past safes passage or japanese or japan related to ships are important for us so that's why we sending it we're not part of. american initiative and nor european nor juran unionists should ever it's strictly on our own isn't that risky i mean there could be some kind of coffee and you are right why should we be in it but if everything's fine why you need to wash it in the region what we need to get the information to secure the safe passage all our tankers or other ships so we are sending them for information gathering what's wrong with it. just a reconnaissance mission. and some people thea differently. us

asian relations expert glenn fukushima for example finds the idea amazing. well i think as defense minister that's what he had to say you know just as when koizumi was asked in the diet. is it not dangerous for the soul defense force to be in combat zones he said well the sort of things worse is there by definition that is not a combat zone. that was his answer. behind the scenes of u.s. japanese military relations in the end is less easy carrying than here american military units stationed here still may try and aid missions with the japanese earthquake for example but since washington has demanded much more money from japan for u.s. troops tensions have risen considerably it is actually cheaper to have a marine stationed in japan than to have them in san diego so if we pay them no then they will become sort of mercenary and i

don't think you were supposed to do would like to do that. posh words especially coming from an otherwise normal japan is a possible future government leader seeking to expand his influence in a big way insiders say there is support for this in the ruling party but less so amongst the japanese people. and for more tonight i am joined by case of a say he's member of the german parliament's foreign affairs committee and a former general staff officer off the gym and forces and zachary haas fault he is the deputy director of the asia program at the german marshall fund in washington d.c. gentlemen welcome to both of you mr case of a step has the trumpet ministration told you why it wants to withdraw at the off its troops from germany. no so far there was no explanation at all we have nothing against it however this should be achieved amongst partners and it should be

coordinated and not announced while the media. writes so so what exactly have you been told have you been given a timeline for that for the trip production. now we only have heard that the idea is to reduce the troops by the end of september this year our demand from the parliament is that there should not be any effects prior to the us presidential election so we would like to see the new administration to handle this topic but this is not be done within the several months because there are thousands of people and also their families and there are also contracts and we as a strong partner for the united states would like to see these troops to stay in germany all right mr oz but i'll come to you now let's consider the pacific for a moment be the us once japan to pay even more for the us military and brain a why would miss

a trump be making vista monton now. well it's it's difficult to know exactly what is behind his thinking but if we look back at statements that donald trump has made both as president and when he was a canned candidate running for president in 2016 certainly indicated that he was thinking more of a lion says as very transactional in nature really focused on dollar amounts rather than allies working together or collaboratively to address shared values or or promote shared interests and so when the trumpet ministration interview goshi asians with the south koreans and then now with the japanese asking for a much higher amount it's really raised a lot of questions both in washington but also in asia i mean look at what we know that china is a rising military pal in japan speculum the south china sea is abuzz with it we hear very often how does donald trump's demond strengthen the block against

china here. yeah it's it's important for the u.s. and japan to maintain their strong alliance we've actually been working very hard over the past few years to increase in iraq or ability to make sure our forces work well together in part because of the military modernization from china and its increased use of maritime vessels of coast guard and people's liberation army navy vessels which of have been a significant challenge and so it is very important for us to work together this unfortunately the question about how much japan should be covering for for u.s. forces in japan is distracted from this when we really need to be focusing on ever continuing to to tighten our alliance ok at end and what does that mean for that

alliance right what does it mean for us japanese ties dess if we can this minute she partnership. i don't know if i would go so far to say is it we can sit or at least it won't there will be permanent damage if we are able to to get through this past year or we renegotiate what are called special measures agreements every few years typically every 5 years with south korea or japan and so negotiations of this type are or normal this the amount that we're seeking and the explanation for what that amount will cover is different and that is what's caused concerns but ultimately we do have a lot of shared interests and values with japan both see rising challenge from chinese military modernization as i said so we will be able to i believe come together in time that alliance but this is a distraction it can give an opportunity to the chinese government to try to

exploit this distraction and what we really want to see is that there are openings for china or other potential adversaries in that regard. miscues of it i want to bring you back in at this point japan and china and the u.s. these are all important for germany as well the changes that washington has to carry out. in germany's even nato's interests. well i think that we need just as us close and scrum ally we see him as a partner in the alliance for motile at the relisten which is was founded by some german and french prime ministers and ministers nevertheless what we need is a credible burden sharing a sign from the european union and the european nato members that we are willing to take over more responsibility from the americans in the close vicinity of europe

look to ukraine look to the west on balkans to the new middle east and to libya so as have burden sharing in the u. of the americans would mean that we take over more responsibility to become more credible on the other side this would also give the american president a signal that he is a could promulgated to the american population that the europeans are taking over more response an ability to ease the burden of the united states so that they could focus more in the pacific region this is very important because we we need the the world trade and we need also this free sea lines of communications and therefore it is all in one so a close cooperation with japan is also very helpful for the european union in giving this is really going to happen that we will see trips in pulled out of germany. well this was an announcement and the question is when and where to

if they shift these troops to poland this won't this would not be very negative because poland has a strong. fear of threat towards the russian movements border while ations as well as space violations and a lot of hybrid warfare so this would give a signal for more defense and credibility of nato towards towards russia however we expect from the u.s. president that he is discussing this with his closest ally its allies in the european union and nato because you cannot shift troops without coordination with the host nation and germany since its serenity since 1000 $900.00 is a very strong partner and we would like to be handled all saw even and that with the united states this is not the way you treat your close part was ok roger

case of a it's a member of the german parliament's foreign affairs committee and a formal general staff officer of the german armed forces and separate possible it the deputy director of the asia program at the german marshall fund in washington d.c. gentlemen thank you both for those insights tonight. it's to the central african country of cameroon now and the story of how political rivalry is holding back the fight against the current if iris prevention if it's concentrated on the biggest city do not have to a disputed election the government has banned the work off the opposition leader maurice come to all but he and his party are determined to press ahead blaze a all net some of the aid work is defying the bad. these volunteers income room and getting ready to dish because of 900 provision keets.

they are not fish mice and i call b.s. consonant ties is not a market in the country's largest city. congress opposition leader come to critter do going to vision to hook up the spread of the current virus. people are happy to get the equipment but otoh if you see otherwise. the government sees these organisms shallots evolve on meetings out of the rocks these speeches given a chance to shoot in this response on your wrist and it's time i come a security forces. says started a program for a month ago i listen a dozen people hugging are arrested across the country. dispensaries who want is reached out to disadvantaged communities almost every day. 300000 keeps having donated in over 15 communities to form. because they come up to on a senior member of the team says the are not backing down. we are worth reporting

you are despite all the risks are real continuing that what is that report somebody my dad has that report you'll see it was obvious that the money of this your retarded boy up to be i'm of course. i'm no continuing no wonder i'm a wilcox because deluded is. and we need to do our best so there is no way to stop it. come ruth interior minister who. was not about billable on our request for an interview. the new. police brought in the country we more than 6500 cases fis must win. in israel. new positions continue to distribute hygiene kits to people who can't afford them. no i am so happy i have spent much from my little savings to buy hand sanitizer and i don't even have enough money to buy food but i had to struggle to get

a job. i'm now joined by dr mary stephen who's working as a technical officer at the w.h.o. regional office in anything to have. what do you have at the pandemic is exeter raising in africa is the continent ready. yes so we as. you do on the continent want to situation if you look at look at the different countries it varies from country to country the pandemic is driven by 10 countries over 80 percent of these cases reported from 10 countries india continent so we still have some through countries that are reporting less than a 100 kids is more we haven't seen the peak yet be continents and countries continue to enhance the preparedness and readiness capacities to

respond to increasing number of cases so we are seeing countries establishing community hospitals trying to build capacity or enhance capacity at the low eyelids of the health system because given the peculiarity of the systems in africa most of the capacity as you find them at the national level board because of these potential increase in number of cases they are beginning to decentralize to buke i.c.t. to be able to detect to test to isolate treat and also contact where is. the people that might have been exposed to positive coli cases include the implementation of preventive measures among the members of the community saw the issue of hand. don't want.

to when we try to step away from our desk job to save up the search after that but i do want to ask you this we are still talking about africa being the least affected region in the world what is the explanation behind this. yes africa is the least african. region in terms of keirsey is in terms of deaths so the beginning of the outbreak you record is the continent that had the importation of kids last so we started having. 1000 kids need fear every where in reported up close all continents of the world so before i didn't know there were already countries were already implementing into screening and some of them were been quarantined off trouble us now quite a number of countries my marriage to detect imported guess is in the end of some

of them where the points of entry somewhere. would inquire into minded to quarantine and they were able to limit. the 4 dust cleared of these kids in the communities so in terms of you did we also have. a younger population and. learn self beauties that's one tree roots tool one's chances of dying so these are some of the factors that affect what to do and the number of. very interesting and thank you for that insight that stops and stephen from the congo brazzaville thank you. ukraine is one of the few countries in the vault where sarah c. is affordable and easy to arrange but the global health emergency has prevented dozens of parents from joining their new born children the wrong way it has been

painful for couples but potentially disastrous for children's development now some families have finally managed to be united as our correspondent nick conley met one such happy. one month and 3 days late but at least they're together. and traveled more than 10000 kilometers by car through continent in lockdown to finally meet their daughter. she still has to get used to us she doesn't know who we are. their daughter spent her 1st month with a carer in an apartment her parents only able to see her on a screen. you know the so sad we were crying just seeing her pictures and unable to do anything for her you just feel so helpless all you can do is wait . as their daughter's birth came and went and with no end to lock down in sight or pull out and your elders could do was scour the ukrainian press with the help of a translation app on the lookout for some sign of hope neither the spanish

government nor the ukrainian embassy could or would help when they read that ukraine's human rights on but when it promised to help parents into the country. jumped in their car to drive the 3600 kilometers from their home in madrid to kiev . and the 1st trip was a leap in the dark we didn't know what we'd encounter at the borders on route they received a long hoped for permission to enter ukraine yeah i cried when he received this i didn't think a piece of paper could make you this happy. but it wasn't enough. this week was not the czechs and we're just 500 kilometers from kiev then they told us no we just couldn't take it anymore they were missing just one document enough for them to be turned back at the ukrainian border returning home to madrid with the only option without their baby week later they were back at the ukrainian frontier after 7000 kilometer round trip to madrid and back this time with the right

documents and they were finally allowed into the country other parents have been less fortunate separated from their children by even greater distances and still unable to enter ukraine how many babies are still without their parents no one can say with any confidence. we've lost months of our daughter's life. that was super important yes. it was actually a month and 3 days to leave it felt like a year spanish must sound strange to her she doesn't want to sleep she just wants to listen to us. now she's originally sleep. with. this journey to becoming a family like any other is not yet over to register their daughter's birth in spain will probably still have to go to court in spain as in many other european countries surrogacy is a legal gray zone not a legal illegal coronavirus lock down which is the 1st of many obstacles on that

path 'd. so we asked if it's know how many babies are still in limbo as a result. we're all scratching our heads here trying to work that out but it seems that even the government doesn't really know so we heard from the ukrainian government's human rights woman who to help families like the larger all this 20 ukraine with special permission she says about 100 families have been in touch with her over recent weeks asking for help getting into the country while those travel restrictions than place but experts say that is just the tip of the iceberg they. they estimate that most agencies here in ukraine have been advising their families to stay quiet not to reach out to the government they're worried about too much government intervention they have been calls from certain lawmakers here to ban international surrogacy so there was a real worry about coming out as it were and making clear quite how big a phenomenon this is and i think the pictures that went around the world of those

babies in a hotel ballroom they really are representative that was essentially a p.r. stunt by a very savvy clinic director who wants to get international attention to resolve this problem most babies including babies babies spent that 1st month last month or 2 in a private apartment with a carer so the picture the reality a bit more banal than those pics. but this seriously is an industry that. sees families from across the world coming to ukraine this is not just european phenomenon you have families miss far as argentina saudi arabia china some of those chinese families it's estimated have been up to 3 or 4 months late breaking out their babies given the lockdown starts in china earlier than in europe or north america so this really is a global phenomenon happening here in ukraine. all right the day is almost done but the conversation continues online join us on twitter either at the news or follow me at 1.7 it's been great having your company.

going. into the conflict zone with tim sebastian. come calling never leads to news for a long lease days now it's a draft of a new security law to be imposed by beijing was provoking controversy and protests joining me this week from long gone is regina is a member of the city's legislative council and chair of the probation people's policy fellow conflict zone. next on t.w. .

w.'s crime fighters are back again africa's most successful radio drama series continues in season the stories focus on hate speech color of prevention and sustainable charcoal introduction. all of the sodas are available online and of course you can share and discuss on africa's facebook page and other social media platforms. crime fighters tune in now. we're all set. to go. beyond geologists. that were made clear. as we take on the moral. wherewithal about these are stories that matter to you. about something. good people what ever

it takes people around me know. me don't know the. same brothers i know that w. a man made for mines. look in detail of how beijing uses its national security yours on the mainland you don't really understand the real situation in hong kong i ask you if you'll come back to the situation in hong kong how one country 2 systems clearly operate hong kong never leaves the news for long these days now it's the draft of a new security law to be imposed by beijing that's provoking controversy.