this is really news live from berlin the u.s. slashes troop numbers in germany nearly 12000 soldiers won't either be deployed elsewhere in europe or sent back to the u.s. all that carries out president trump's wish to punish germany because he says the country doesn't contribute nearly enough to defense also coming up coronavirus infections so war in europe with many people traveling just as europeans head to the beaches governments are really imposing restrictions will look at what could lie ahead for europe clubs using sniffer dogs and excavators police searching

a german garden plot for a 2nd day looking for clues in the disappearance of madeleine mccann the good news linked to a man identified as a suspect and feeling close to one's god while keeping a distance from others the annual hodge pilgrimage one of the world's biggest events which normally draws millions of worshippers begins under tight pandemic restrictions drastically scaled down. thank you so much for your company everyone well we start this broadcast with breaking news because moments ago the united states and now state it will withdraw nearly 12000 troops from germany defense secretary mark esper and now it's the move as part of a read of. point to forces in europe that he says will strengthen nato president

all trump previously said he intended to take troops out of germany accusing the german government of being quote the link went in defense spending here's the phone secretary mark esper speaking earlier. the current eucom plan we're a position approximately 11900 military personnel from germany from roughly 36000 down 224000 in a banner that will strengthen nato enhanced the deterrence of russia and meet the other principles i set forth of the 11900 nearly 5600 servicemembers we will be repositioned within nato countries and approximately 6400 will return to the united states though many of these or similar units will begin conducting rotational deployments back to europe the defense secretary there well i spoke earlier to retired u.s. general ben hodges he commanded u.s. forces in europe for 3 years he's been quoted as calling this move

a gift to the kremlin and i asked him if he stood by that assessment. yeah i do to get a 30 percent reduction of u.s. capability that's in germany and half of that going back to the states the kremlin did nothing to change its behavior to reduce its aggression and it still occupies crimea still killing ukrainian soldiers every week still occupy as part of georgia is still supports your side regime in syria it's done nothing to change its behavior and yet it gets a gift of a significant u.s. reduction in germany and maybe even more importantly the damage to the german american relationship the most important ally that the united states have in europe is germany in the way this whole thing was done i think damages their relationship and that that is a gift to the grammar and this is of course

a sign that to bilateral relations are at a low point to say the least now as you know u.s. president donald trump obviously was taking aim at germany again moments ago he said at the white house a lot that we spent a lot of money on germany they have to been to they have been taking advantage of us this is a very big issue for the president does it enjoy widespread support. well i think look every ever president including president obama has been critical of german investment in its own defense and i think most american voters have a hard time understanding why the most prosperous country in europe which is benefited from the protection of nato more than any other country. doesn't doesn't do more in terms of defense spending that's said to me is that you get this forgive

me but the fence spending has has been increased by germany but somehow that is not appeasing to president trump i mean they have increased their spending. well shouldn't have but it's still 1.37 percent and what every country agreed to including germany was to achieve 2 percent of its general defense gross domestic product with defense spending and so still germany can and should do more but set that aside. what we have in germany is not there to protect germany it's there for our benefit ours the united states as well as for the alliance the logistics headquarters and it's actually of a very small number i mean 34000 army and air force that's that's not even half of the stadium were by mutual place football so we're not talking about a lot of people that are there now and ironically the move. some of the moves that were outlined today by sector esper actually are moving capability to belgium in

italy in belgium in italy are neither neither of them are anywhere close to 2 percent themself so there's a there's an inconsistency in what the president is saying and what the department is doing think it is fair to go ahead i think we need to do what. what we saw today what you saw was a defense secretary secular and the vice chairman of the joint chiefs doing their best to take a a wrong headed. strategic decision by the white house and they were doing their best to to minimize the damage to nato to deterrence to relationships to retain his and frankly you heard him talk about this is going to take years to do. which i think they were doing their best to take a legal order to make it work and so that's what we saw today and that's why so as

i understand you correctly it was this largely symbolic. no ad i would not say it was symbolic and i'm sayin that they took a a decision that was wrong at its core by the white house which and they have no choice i mean you can imagine the arguments and the discussions and disagreements that would have been going on back in washington inside the pentagon and with the white house but at the end of the day the president says we're going to do this and so the department defense of us ok well here's here's how we're going to do it then and so what you saw today was the concept as a general heightened use a word this is a concept now where you have to develop the plans that's why there are so many unknowns about budgets that's why there are so many unknowns about where will the troops go. and when i do imagine you will see in the next few weeks some very small initial steps to show movement that would be symbolic.

i don't know how this will play out the congress has an important role obviously they provide the authorization and the appropriations to actually carry out these changes. i hope that some of these things can be undone. but you know germany has a role to a relationship has 2 parts in germany. i think we need to think what is your his role within nato now what is a sin travesty germany in european security in the u.s. plans to move so much out how does germany see its own strategic role this is of the debating that is long overdue in germany how germans view their teaching role for sure there's going to be a lot of discussion that happening on that topic in that the days coming thank you is so very much as us in general have been hodges that for joining us thank you

thank you and there's so much more news that we're tracking for you here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. emergency crews are tackling a large fire in the us state of arizona after a freight train derailed while crossing a bridge the bridge it tempy town lake partially collapsed is not yet clear of there any injuries. to u.s. treasury secretary stephen minucci has confirmed that the chinese owned video app called take talk is under review as a potential threat to u.s. national security the administration previously said it was considering banning the app a tic toc representatives said they couldn't comment on the review process. separatists in southern yemen have pledged to abandon self rule in favor of a peace deal with the un backed government the riyadh agreement was signed in november but has since stalled both sides are part of a saudi led coalition fighting who he rebels in the north. hong kong authorities

are warning the city is on the verge of a large scale coronavirus outbreak they've imposed strict new social distancing measures including limiting gatherings to 2 people there are reports the government could also respond legislative council elections due in september a potential blow to pro-democracy campaigners german police hunting for clues in the disappearance of toddler madeleine mccann have sifted through a community garden near hanover for a 2nd day reports say the piece of land was rented by a newly named suspect in the case the 3 year old british girl vanished from a portuguese resort in 2007. a friend medics search for clues but police have been silent about what they have found or are hoping to find. they've only said that the operation is connected to the presumed murder of madeleine mccann police have not said whether they are looking for her body on this

garden plot near hanover in northern germany a piece of land where the prime suspect in the case once lived the aura of mystery here has left residents unsettled. it's a tragic case and of course you're surprised when you come here and there are so many police so many cameras around that is quite unusual for this place it's a weird feeling to think maybe it happened here it's somehow horrible and yet this is it we. take. them for us here it's appalling to think that such a man could live here freely and that maybe mattie was here to like your. i don't know i think it's horrible and. this holiday resort is where the search for mccann began in 2007 the 3 year old disappeared from the family's apartment while her parents were dining at a nearby restaurant the mccann's spent years publicizing the case urging

authorities to keep looking hoping to find their daughter alive finally last month investigators announced the suspect a german man who was in the vicinity when mccann disappeared the suspect is already sitting in prison for a separate crime a prosecutor has said they are still lacking critical evidence to bring murder charges against him. our ideas are so she is standing by next to the garden in hanover where the police excavation neck continues as we speak. what's happening right now where you are. well the excavation and the investigation continue police officers are here they're using shovels rakes they also have the help of a small bulldozer to start uncovering and digging to see if there's any possible clues to try and find out what has happened to maddie there it's sick in connection with this an accused who is right now in prison and may have had something to do

with her disappearance he used to rent a lot over here and sources say that the police were especially interested in this lot because there's supposedly also a seller there and i can tell you that germany's biggest tabloid newspaper now says that the police have indeed found a seller and i can also say that i saw 3 large containers of materials transported away today the 1st 2 contained construction material stones cut stones possibly used for construction and a lot of concrete and then the 3rd container i saw nonspecific construction items i saw plastic pails i saw hoses and then the police quickly covered up the container with a tarpaulin and then had that transported away also so a lot of things still going on here and over to my right there is a blue police tent who colored police tent where they are also looking at items as specifically and it's going to take a long time i would say yes and what are they hoping to find that will move the

investigation forward. they're hoping to find anything that can move this investigation forward where there'd be a document where there would be a piece of clothing i saw earlier today that a police officer picked up a piece of cloth and ran it into the tent so anything that i can help here i talked to british reporters who are here they told me this is front page news an entire generation grew up with this tragic story about this missing girl and every is so many people feel for this family and for what happened is so it has a lot of ramifications for people from britain who have been following this story for many years 13 years as a matter of fact and not once has a really strong concrete piece of of of evidence cropped up there hoping that maybe over there there might be an answer to your report or our search thank you very much. to turkey next where lawmakers have passed

a controversial bill that will impose strict new regulations on social media platforms regulations that many companies could well find impossible to comply with critics say the bill will increase censorship and help authorities silence dissent to its present retired on has often criticized social media platforms ulan. attacks on personal rights character assassination these platforms a full of these kinds of things and they must be brought under control. shoved. president russia type speaking there now did have a reporter rebecca rivers has been following this story for you rebecca tell us about these new regulations and what impact they will have well a live the law which is due to come into effect in october requires social media companies that have more than a 1000000 turkish daily uses that they're the big ones twitter facebook you tube they require them to set up local offices to comply with requests to have content

removed requests by the government use a dos a will also have to be stored on servers in turkey and that's quite important if companies refuse they face hefty fines and also a spade cuts which would render their platforms virtually unusable now the impact would be huge on both ordinary citizens and. journalists as well social media channels have become a primary platform for critics of the government dissenting voices and alternative news organizations human rights watch we have a statement which we can bring up for you says the bill will greatly increase censorship they said that the new law will enable the government to control social media to get content removed at will and to arbitrarily target individual uses social media is a lifeline for many people who use it to access news so this law signals a new doc era of online censorship now many local journalists and digital rights

experts have echoed that sentiment and the bill that bill aside a huge number of people detained every year in turkey as a result of social media use this is potentially just another way that the government will be able to censor very far reaching consequences that you are lying there why is the government doing this right now well the biggest government often complains to platforms in a report done by the guardian newspaper they say that twitter is they've more than 6000 requests from the turkish government to have content for moves now to. only complied with 5 percent of the requests and rejected the rest and it's that ability the ability to make their own decisions about how to react to complaints that critics say want to trying to change by bringing in this law the ruling. a parties may argue that law is needed to combat cyber crime protect users from hate speech they often cite a german war which is used to do just that as

a reason why they need to do it but why now is possibly a very personal reason for her to want to earlier this month. finance minister who happens to be married his daughter they had a baby they announced about it on twitter and they were attacked on twitter some people you know saying questioning the child's paternity. got really upset and once again question the the morality rather of twitter and vowed to crack down on the it's an interesting issue what has the reaction been so far well public opinion is quite splits in a poll just prior to the little passing people were asked whether they were in favor of the law that would allow government to limit or fine people for social media 49.6 people percent of people said no but all those asked 66.4 percent of a cape a supporters say yes so overwhelmingly popular amongst voters meanwhile

a hash tag which i can't say the turkish name unfortunately but the english version is say stop to the censorship law has been trending on twitter human rights watch calling for the companies not to comply so you know a lot of criticism against this law so hard to to be continued i'm guessing rebecca rivers thank you so much for reporting on that story. up next to 4 of the biggest names in global tech are set to appear before an anti-trust panel of the u.s. congress facebook's mark zuckerberg or google c.e.o. sundar pichai and apple's tim cook and amazon's jeff bezos they will all face lawmakers question about whether or not their platforms are monopolies and have become too powerful and stifle competition or the 4 companies have a combined value of more than get this 5 trillion dollars. as court of virus cases rise in parts of europe governments are really imposing

restrictions just asked people are going on a summer holiday or europe is looking for a more coordinated response as national governments act alone to contain the virus . gets high season for tourism in europe parisian terraces are glowing museums are open again vacationers have returned to the beaches. but with the recent rise in corona virus cases in several european hotspots governments are putting the brakes on holiday making the u.k. reimposed a quarantine on travelers from spain after a reported cases there rose by almost 1000 on monday tourists in barcelona were not happy with the news i think stupidity of the few places i've never met at the beach and see where people are so frightened your so nice to. know that i want to come here a friend said that i find that very excessive i'm enjoying myself and i feel safe

but they've taken every precaution. to get the outbreak under control madrid imposed a new rule minatory masks in public. and catalonia nightclubs have been forced to close once again. belgium is also struggling with a new spike in cases the city of antwerp reinstated a curfew no one allowed outside between 11 30 pm and 6 am except for essential workers. germany fearing imported infections is requiring travelers from high risk areas to take a coronavirus test upon arrival german authorities are not ruling out the possibility of border closures if outbreaks cannot be contained. and does all that's the job of politicians and the media to make it clear that the danger is not over when we don't get things right then we'll find ourselves in a 2nd wave which will also have economic consequences that's why we have. to be vigilant most of your philosophy. it's clear that despite the heat of the summer

the virus has not melted away but many are hoping europe has learned enough from the 1st wave to keep the virus at bay. all right let's talk now about coronavirus super spreaders because that has public health officials very very worried professor alona simonson is professor of population health sciences at the danish roskilde at university a very good day to you you have made super spreaders the focal point of your research and likeness how do they work what have you learned well as it turns out now i think old humans know about the are not that expresses how many people on the average too but what we're seeing here is really that is not that's important but what's also important is that it's not everybody who is the same some people actually need it transmitting and not more than us so that when next to you not so if they die maybe 10 percent of people will give rise to 80 percent of infections

in the next generation so if you could stop those who could we do it not so how would you go about stopping that because that seems the be to be the key for containing the spread would you have to introduce a universal testing and localize who these super spreaders are what would you do. well i would realize and the sad truth is there's no way to know who's a super spreaded might even be that all of us could be on a special day in our disease or something so what we really want to do instead is to spread the air the situations where in which such a person can meet and not a people who is a who is too close together so that's the situation we've seen this over and over again in so many countries there when you have a situation to be in dog people close together lots of people maybe singing shouting something then you can get suddenly maybe 200 people infected from just one person that's the kind of thing we have to camp out on in order to control this

epidemic ok now of course our thought is whenever there is an outbreak they advocate for a lockdown the fact is that people cannot stay home indefinitely so i wonder are lockdowns at all effective is it feasible or is there a different way to go about it should we be focusing more on prisons and food producing processing facilities well actually we have done a modeling effort in which we're trying to understand what's really important to close down the home sects are the work 6 hour as these events where you go out and meet a lot of people you don't know normally and is that one that we need to focus on so it's not about closing your work of closing your daily life it's about making sure you don't suddenly find yourself in a situation with a bunch of people you don't know you're too close and then these kind of super spreading events could stop in fact it seems to be like a killer seal of this type of virus these coronaviruses the same thing is being absurd for sas in 2003 and farmers in 2012. professor lerner

simonson professor of population health sciences at the danish roskill university thank you so much slower come yet. in saudi arabia muslim pilgrims have begun the annual hard and back of all normally huge numbers of people travel from all around the world to take part in islam is most important pilgrimage but this year it's taking place on a new much more modest scale. like no other what these people are among the few saudi residents allowed to attend the 5 day pilgrimage this year strictly controlled because of the coronavirus usually over $2000000.00 people packed together to praise allah for the structure known as the. pandemic has made safety central

to the pilgrimage. health workers have disinfected the holy sites in mecca and there are strict rules for those attending. they have to be between the ages of 20 and 50 years old with no terminal illnesses and show no signs of coronavirus. the pilgrims have also had to undergo temperature checks and virus tests where responds that monitor their movements and current team before and after how much. inconveniences that permit this year's relatively small number of pilgrims to enjoy a possibly once in a lifetime experience. now wealthy our lovers have been spending big at a massive virtual auction a very expensive paintings the london auction house used its global reach to draw on bidders from around the world a series of paintings by banksy who is not only a street artist went for over 2000000 euros

a trio of works he calls. seaview but the big ticket item was. to a woman in a red hat that went bad for that was for more than 24000000 euros. experts have been watching you know it is a little hockenberry and on behalf of all of us here thanks for spending this privy to.

the protests have been silenced there is now fear and uncertainty on the streets. in homs hama china's new security law has shut down freedom of expression. teachers are threatened with dismissal activists are being arrested for fleeing the country

3000. next on d.w.i. . cutting through the noise. where i come from people are known for being tough but fair new york and a lot of people tell it like it it was the big call of the concrete jungle the melting pot of the city that never sleeps if there's an energy that makes it feel like cold but amid the hustle it's important to listen and pay attention because it's not just the loudest voices move to be heard we all have a story this is how i see it is my job as a journalist to go beyond the obvious now i'm basing your odds my work takes me around the world but my instincts remain the same to tell the important stories

behind the headlines. what is the heart of the story why does it matter who live in fact. i'm saying focus if you want. to cut through the noise to get to the truth. and i want you to death. welcome to global 3000 people all over the world are taking a stand against racism in germany activists and scholars search for solutions to the country's racism problem. the elephants are coming in india and a launch system warns villages when the massive mammals are headed their way. but 1st we go to hong kong where.