this is the the other news live from berlin on pay or times up the pressure on a new job on russian i fly in the u.s. secretary of state visits denmark weeks after it agreed to lift the controversial north 2 pipeline boss through its waters washington is an outspoken opponent also coming up. firefighters' of course to the chinese consulate in houston texas that's as a front but ministration for visit too close citing concerns over u.s. intellectual property what the diplomats burning sensitive documents.

while u.s. secretary of state might bump aoe has been visiting denmark on the agenda bus waiting copenhagen to backtrack on the controversial nord stream to pipeline denmark has just given the go ahead for construction work to resume but from pale hopes to get the danes to change their minds the u.s. believes the pipeline will make germany too dependent on russian gas. last week on paper want companies working on the project they would be subject to u.s. penalties if they didn't and that involvement. in the baltic sea gas pipeline north stream 2 is still moving forward albeit slowly the u.s. has threatened sanctions for companies participating in the project so right now

there is just one russian ship laying the pipes for the remaining 160 kilometers. the pipeline runs parallel to the north stream one pipeline from russia to germany 1200 kilometers across the baltic once complete it will allow russia to supply double the current volume of gas the united states says germany is making itself dependent on russia earlier this month u.s. secretary of state mike pompei o warned against continuing to build the pipeline this action puts investments or other activities that are related to these russian energy export pipelines at risk of u.s. sanctions it's a clear warning to companies aiding and abetting russia's malign influence projects will not be tolerated get out now or risk the consequences germany has rejected the criticism and says sanctions would be contrary to international law now denmark has given permission for additional vessels to work on the last phase of

a pipeline within its territorial waters that means work on the project may soon pick up speed angering pump aoe and the white house. so how is the german government reacting to this latest u.s. diplomatic offensive against north stream 2 diddums chief political editor because spoke to german defense minister crabb cot and our system once known allstream is a project that is also being debated among but also nato member states. too there is concern that germany could become too dependent on russian gas a concern we were able to diffuse but it's also about the concerns in the interests of ukraine and poland which have to be negotiated into the contracts this was in the front when it comes to the u.s. threat of sanctions and governments have the clear position that these are not in accordance with international rules this is me. and the character who

conducted that interview joins us now from our politics studio and a good crop cotton ball isn't just germany's defense minister she's also the chair of chancellor angela merkel's c.d.u. party and a close ally of the chancellor what else did she have to say about the nord stream pipeline prophesy. well it's quite clear that the whole question of how countries in the e.u. relate to russia is also an overarching theme of germany's you presidency that is currently taking place and those meetings of defense ministers that come combo or will be chairing and there she's been talking to many countries who either see a very concrete threat specifically in the east and in the baltic states and other countries that take different asked who do want to see more cooperation and here is germany that also again stiff resistance from many e.u. member states is pushing ahead what it took a very long time for under machall to actually accept has

a political implication that pipeline between russia and germany devaney may be in the right when it comes to international law but with a defunct world trade organization at the moment and those tense relations to what it says is its closest allies across there across the atlantic and washington this still is a very open and a very difficult spot for the dome government to be in that administration in washington has taken a very hard line on the nordstrom pipeline with u.s. presidential elections due in 4 months time do you think mccain other berlin is thinking of just sitting this one out. well i mean it's not for sure who will win those elections they are wide open and the democrats can that do biden may be in the lead for now but still several months off until november and that is a very long time in politics when you are dealing with such a concrete congress has

a big say in that of course as well and the big question is how much damage will have been done whoever becomes the next president and what footing those damaged relations can be continued for now this remains an issue where germany also can't back out because that would be conceding to what in the end also other national interests across the atlantic so it's still a very open situation if there were just political editor here thank you very much . now to some other stories making news around the wild and the arrest warrant has been issued for formal why god c.e.o. bakos brown in connection with fraud investigations into the company prosecutors in munich say waters have also been issued for 2 other for my executives the payments from fired for insolvency last month after a 1900000000 euro hole emerged in its accounts. israeli

protesters have blocked roads and in jerusalem demonstrating against legislation that would grant the government the right to bypass lawmakers to combat the coronavirus it follows a night of protests near the residence of prime minister benjamin netanyahu. the u.s. city of portland oregon has seen further clashes between protesters and federal law enforcement officers sent by president donald trump to end and to recent protests there 90 rallies have been held in the area since the death of george floyd in police custody in me. and south african and campaign andrew. has died at the age of $9051.00 guinea stood trial the council mandela was imprisoned in the materials robben island prison for more than a quarter of a century. in a father escalation of tension between the worlds 2 biggest economies the united states has ordered china to close its consulate in houston texas the u.s.

state department said it was a necessary measure to protect american intellectual property beijing has called the move a political provocation and a violation of international law just hours after the order was issued firefighters were called to the consulate. bins on fire inside the courtyard at the chinese consulate in houston witnesses said they could smell paper being burned the 1st whiff of a bigger story because this firefighters arrived chinese state media started reporting the u.s. had ordered the consulate to be closed. it's a political provocation unilaterally launched by the u.s. side which seriously violates international law basic norms governing international relations and the bilateral consular agreements between china and the u.s. china strongly condemn such an outrageous move. the cue to it or you talk to

the in a statement the u.s. state department said it would not tolerate violations of our sovereignty and intimidation of our people the u.s. directive comes a day after 2 chinese nationals were charged with hacking said to be working a spice they're accused among other things of trying to steal coronavirus vaccine research amping targeted intellectual property and confidential business information held by the private sector including covert 19 related treatment testing and vaccines. back in houston this was as close as firefighters could get to the consulate they weren't allowed in chinese officials have 72 hours to get out with china threatening to close u.s. consulates in response. to the fire now you have been pushed out but the u.s. china relationship is smoldering as much as ever. that's bigger types of barker's

on the truman national security project in berlin tyson what more do we know about why the u.s. has taken this step. well clearly this is an escalator tory step on the part of the u.s. and we don't exactly know the reasons they have not the us is not given exact reasons what we do know is the kind of atmosphere around this the u.s. has unsealed a an indictment the department of justice on tuesday involving 2 chinese hackers that have been infiltrating research centers looking into coke at 19 vaccines. the as you mentioned earlier my pump a.o. is doing a trip through europe it was just in the u.k. pushing for other countries to ban walkway so the relationship attention and ration ship is for a way where does this leave diplomatic ties between the 2 countries. there they're extremely fraught right now i think when you look at the kind of global landscape

china and the united states are crisscrossing our allies partners pushing for partners to take a tougher stance visa be the other the chinese have become quite aggressive here in europe for example with what they're calling a world war you're diplomacy pushing. partners to allow walkway for example to take part to participate in 5 g. infrastructure development places like germany. it's quite tense and in the united states this idea of you know a great power conflict with china has has credibility has it given credence in a bipartisan way there's a lot of support for this in congress as well do you think the company ministration is also hardening its position on china given that we are in an election year. well you know there is obviously a political overtone to this the trump campaign has made

a point of saying that the trump president trump is tougher on china that joe biden will soften china that he will support of integrating china into the global trade system for example in the ninety's and early 2000 so that he has a record that doesn't match well with with trump's record. it's not clear that that's going to work the rhetoric coming out of the fighting campaign it's very similar to the trump rhetoric and a lot of the support for toughening sanctions measures in the senate and house which are moving right now banning to talk for example on federal devices that are coming from the democrats as well as the republicans tyson baka from the truman national security project in berlin thank you so much thank you for less an american go stunning 15 is a very special birthday it's known as kids on yap the rite of passage into womanhood the coronal want to spend their make is i think somehow dl's to this year's celebrations bought as an extra board shows lots of goals in cuba finding

fashionable ways to adapt. sick and safe it's the way to go for young cubans alike sophia who are celebrating baking pan year out or 15th birthday during the pendant make. i designed my 15th birthday dress and the mask was very important to me it's a symbol of an important stage in my life which was the pandemic i had to design my face mask to fit the colors of my outfit and it was not just about the combination of colors it was also for security reasons. what you get. across latin america turning 15 is seen as a special milestone in a girl's life it's the moment of transition from girlhood into womanhood latinas often mark and yet us with large celebrations including with glamorous photo shoots and d.c. year face masks have become an integral part of their party outfit. for

young women this contrast between the mosque and the dress the combination is striking it's a fashion that i think will stay. they take selfies and it's something that's part of the whole show the whole experience of the photo shoot of their. cuba made wearing masks compulsory early on and credits them with helping the island to contain the spread of the virus. but for these girls face masks will also remain a symbol of coming of age as an extraordinary time. a group of high profile names of invested in the funding of a new los angeles football team for the 5 to 22 national women's soccer league investors include tennis star serena williams and a husband hollywood actress natalie portman and a dozen former u.s.

women's national team are also in the mix the team has no name yet but they want to ship a group is called angel city that is part of the women's soccer league team in california . you're watching news live from berlin our special with is next i'm going to thanks so much for watching. combating the pandemic. where does research stand. what are scientists learning. background information and. our corona. 19 special next on d w. i'm neal. the 2nd season.