dan, it's like the apartment with global struggle for water and nothing can be done. first, start august 10th. oh d, w d o . this is dw news live from berlin. china steps up its military activity around taiwan, beijing puts on its biggest show of force around the island in decades following a controversial visit by u. s. how speaker nancy pelosi,

also coming up for my german chancellor. gerhard schroeder faces renewed criticism over his links to russian leda vladimir patient and concern over russia's treatment of ukrainian prisoners of war. keith says moscow is behaving illegally, the prisoners being sentenced to death on spurious grounds. we meet the parents, one man being held by russia. do they fear might face a similar fate? plus a forest fire rages in berlin, fire fights, and struggle and made a heat wave to contain the uncontrollable blaze which has broken out at least munitions death. ah, in my manual mccann and welcome to the program. china is stepping up its military activity around taiwan as tensions rise following

the visit of u. s. how speaker nancy pelosi. beijing is preparing its biggest show of force around taiwan. in decades the government in taipei says it scrambled jets to warn off chinese aircraft that entered its air defense zone, and a number of taiwanese ministry. websites have come under cyber attack. pelosi left taiwan pledging. washington's iron clad commitment to defending democracy. the people's liberation army released these images of china, launching its biggest show force against high one in decades. navy and air force drills indicated in blue, have encircled the self governing island that china claims as its own. the drills included what beijing cold precision missiles strikes in the taiwan strait. this new escalation comes as beijing hits back. the u. s. house speaker nancy pelosi

visit to tie pe. pelosi reaffirmed us commitment to defending ty, ones, democracy as the islands government scramble jets to water of chinese aircraft encroaching on their air space. what would infill like? our government is even more resolute to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our nation. in light of the current situation, our government will not only actively strengthen its self defense capabilities, but will also maintain close ties with like minded countries. like the united states, what taiwan has grown accustomed to chinese aggression for residents. these drills are just the latest in lives, lived under constant threat, go down, drills a just like a show. the us china and taiwan will play their own roles in the show. and everything will be okay when the show ends at one long hoping that i want p

santana doesn't did. but this is also a chance to get to let the world see. and the true colors of the chinese communist party. what you're the, how much you down that may foster some regional cooperation thing. the whole, all the issue has dominated a meeting of the association of southeast asian nations in cambodia, capital non pen with china and the united states joining the summit in his opening remarks. china's foreign minister emphasized the political and security ties between china and assay on countries. laura, we have guarded the peace facing the turbulence of the national security. the 2 sides have strengthened to strategic communication jointly tackled the challenges of various spillover effects and jointly maintained the uneasily achieved stability in the region assay on is positioning itself as a negotiator. it's cold for all sides to de escalate. warning and miscalculation

could lead to open conflict. dw correspondent in taipei, joyce lee gave me an update on neat military maneuvers. well, up to now, china has fired more than 10 ballistic massage to the north east and south west of the island. high wants defense ministry that they have activated the missile defense systems. the drew was initially planned to last for 3 days, but the p l. a and now is today that they will extend it for one more day until monday lie fire. drew is take place in 7 songs, including an area just 20 kilometers from the south, south and city gal shown. the thing is, china often holds military drills in the taiwan strait, but what we're seeing now is something else entirely. tell us why these latest exercises, so worrying. well, the truest, unprecedented, this is the 1st time paging tries to encircle the island like this. the de facto

a blockade is a direct challenge to free air and sea navigation. one nice fisherman rush to go back to the pulse full safety as for international flights departing and rocking in taiwan, they have to fly alternative routes to avoid the dangerous zones. it's was no tang done on china's social media label and we chat chinese citizens have expressed huge disappointment at major to lack of action to stop hello see from visiting taiwan. many were expecting to a p l. a to tech playing down, but it didn't happen. and the public, this content is a huge blow to seizing things authority, especially when his under pressure to look strong ahead of a party meeting later this year. many fear the pressure problem to china, to take even tell the measures against taiwan and the true could be, you know, practicing for a future invasion. and that was detail. joyce lee from taiwan studio at citizen

pung. so derek, as the director of the institute of security and international studies, a chill along kwan university in thailand. i asked him if he was surprised by the extent of chinese military exercises around ty, one of course the timing is, is she missed hello. see. so is it that took place just days before the 55th austin farmers meeting and all this know austin already has a lot to deal with the the me and my sister who and the civil war in the south china sea before that china's belligerence in the regions and now the russian invasion, you claim the russian question. so austin has had a lot to deal with. and you know, normally it's the kind of a rich and a buffer for big plans for the major. good. so now the loss is at this

cross rate prices with china's military life fire drills going to exacerbate and you know, it does not help us tend to maintain the central role of security in the region. so as is much more challenged by related events and already had a full plate before. and you know, remember that if asked in this not be well, it becomes irrelevant and doesn't have a central role is bad for the big house because they will not have a place to talk to each other. nations have been very careful so far to pick sides between the us and china, the, the rivalry in the pacific. but will they now gradually be forced into making their allegiance is clear. you know, the, the, the us in that use and the secret to the success requires the big power to be relative balance at relative peace. so when the major power

go at it, like now, like you see in the right direction and you as a china, right? any questions? this is back last year because i think it's a collection of small states. some of the major powers under intense competition and robbery like this is being forced to take sides. and i think we've seen in divisions coming out of this on me and my wife is the one side of the book, singapore, indonesia, malaysia, philippines, on the other side, a on the right and a question also we split a, we see a split over south china sea, so now i think china and the us both trying to rally us in members to their size. and this is that is dividing the original organization right down the middle. and that the vision is deepening, and it's not good for, for the neighborhood,

whole neighborhood because one us in is divided the major power. so i have no kind of bridge to, to have dialogue and no mediator. so i think the job look a bit now sitting on a post the direct from chill along con university in thailand. thanks so much for fascinating analysis. ok, let's take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. now. lebanon is commemorating 2 years since a massive portside explosion killed more than 200 people in the capital bay route. the blast was recorded as one of the largest non nuclear explosions in history was caused by poorly stored ammonium nitrate investigations into the incident have stalled. no senior official has yet been held to account. authorities are blaming arsonists for a wild fire in north western spain. the blaze started in the autonomous region of

galicia, spain, as having its worst year on record for wild eyes and has lost moorland to them. and any other country in europe, and the 1st ship carrying grain from ukraine since the war began, is on its way to lebanon. after passing inspections in turkey, monitors from the un ukraine, turkey and russia checked the rezone. it's hoped further shipments will now be able to leave ukrainian pools. a ukraine foreign ministry says that russia is treating ukrainian prisoners of war illegally and using them for political purposes, which is strictly forbidden. under the geneva conventions, russia and proxy authorities in easton, ukraine have charged dozens of soldiers with crimes. 3 foreign born ukrainian soldiers have been sentenced to death on allegedly fabricated charges. she w, but get her shook her, met the parents of one man whose being held by the russians, and they fear, if they fear he could suffer a similar fate. each morning if gania would carriage take some time

for herself and quite to look at her son, she hasn't heard from maxime since russian forces captured him 2 months ago. she scared there might be torturing him, or that he might be dead. you do cylindrical i sit in the kitchen and just cry while my husband is still sleeping. when he gets up, i wash my face for some nights and try to be strong for the day and not to cry any more. only in the early mornings i allow myself to cry. what's it to you? branson does windows yeah, the capital invited us to their home because they want the world to know about their son. his parents say, maxine volunteered to join the army, even though he is a pacifist, he had worked as a journalist and activist campaigning for refugees and human rights. but when russia invaded, he decided to take more direct action or to wish you use go. so she to do need to,

he told me, i'm joining the army because i have to defend the values i've been fighting for my whole life. yes, this is bruce. they only realized he had been captured when a video of maxine being interrogated was shown on russian state media with to butcher. it was horrible. the 1st thing i felt was just horror. i saw my early childhood listen. so i thought that can't be true crow kremlin telegram tennis quickly called maxime and nazi a nationalist. they even said he was a british spy because he had worked as a local producer for the b, b. c. in 2003. maybe issues in the blue cross blue too. my biggest concern is that they might not recognize him as a prisoner of war like they have with others e and that they would fabricate a criminal case against him. so using all those lies in a twisted evidence latisha with some of a good,

a storage it was use when you free our domestic intelligence sources confirm that russia is holding more than 7000 ukrainian. so just prison. but they won't talk about any of it on camera, because negotiations for prisoners swaps secret. a lawyer representing the families of more than 50 captured soldiers has agreed to talk with us. let us laugh, we cannot see. f works closely with domestic intelligence to try to get prisoners back. he expects that russia will fire more and more criminal cases against ukrainian prisoners of war. i think this is so this is done mostly for their political purposes. when you create search and, you know, important to person gray, largish, you know, you can use it to in their political, you know, treat but yes, dania and alexander, i don't want things to get that far. they fire the nurse into peer to the european

court of human rights. they say they will fight with everything they have until maxine is brittany and that report was filed by my colleague brigitte ashika, who joins us now from keith. hi, begin. we heard that in your report that 7000 ukrainian soldiers are being held as prisoners of war. this of course means a thousands of families ripped apart. unclear about the fate of their loved ones. can you tell us how big a tall pick this is in ukraine? ukrainian society right now, many people here in ukraine are very, very about the fate of the prisoners of war. and they are not only worried, but they are furious, especially after dozens of prisoners of war were killed in an attack on a detention facility. f, close to the front line in russian heard only neetha, russia and ukraine half blamed each other for the attack by the assessment. here

ukraine is very clear. we, yesterday again talked to intelligent sources and say, there's clear evidence that russia really tried to destroy an evidence of torture or killing that side. and the satellite images which occurred from the site are really supporting this claim. so ukraine is really trying to push hard to get an investigation of the site, but we just learned that the red cross still hasn't got access to the side to investigate or even get evidence. and for many people are here in ukraine. this is a clear like indication that russia has to, to, to hide something and they really think that russia here deliberately killed this pre, the prisoners of war. and again, in your report, maxine father was saying how worried he is, the charges will be fabricated against his son that he won't be recognized as

a prisoner of war prisoners of war can of course and routinely are tried in court. antony yes, absolutely. this all is a, is according to the geneva convention. prisoners of war can be charged, but they can be, can't be charged only because they were taking part in hostilities, but they can be charged if they committed serious crimes. ukraine has prosecuted, for instance, just to give you an example, a russian soldier who murdered a 62 year old men in or not in combat, bad to just on the street. and so the ukraine prosecutor told us that they are investigating about several 1000 war crimes committed, allegedly committed by soldiers. the only problem on the russian side is what human rights organizations are criticizing, is that russia never presents any valid evidence or barely any evidence at all. and

just to give you an example, and you mentioned to the 3 soldiers, they were handed down a death sentence by the proxy authorities in dunbar region. and there, there was no evidence apart from that. they allegedly ahead 5 to 4 to defend murray a poor. and shortly after the verdict and the un human rights of his sharply criticized this evidence. and they said, such tribes against prisoners of war itself are amounting to a war crime. we'll have to leave it there. begin a should occur in key. thank you so much. have a ukrainian president, val. autumn is the lensky has condemned comments by former german chancellor. gerhard schroeder suggesting that russia wants to negotiate a solution to its war of aggression. shrewder is refusing to cut his close personal ties with russian leda vladimir putin and is facing an investigation by his own

party. the social democrats. it was the self styled diplomatic mission to the kremlin. vladimir putin spokesman confound that form. a german chancellor dash florida match a russian president on the moscow visit last week. in an interview with german media showed us at that put in once a negotiated solution to the war in ukraine. and that the recent grain deal could be slowly expanded into a ceasefire. damages ukraine's president followed him as a lensky made clear what he thought of the former chancellor's diplomatic efforts moves only to proceed. it is simply disgusting when former leaders of major states with european values worked for russia, which is at war against these values. he yeah, cowboys, property since bonnie ac russia is using these people as messengers there them to say that the terrorist state allegedly once negotiations, bearablewood,

gotch herders and long standing friend of putins. soon after leaving office in 2005, he accepted a job with russian energy company gas from later became chairman of the supervisory board of another russian energy giant ross left should as refused to distance himself from the russian leader in march. shortly after russia invaded ukraine, he travelled to moscow to meet putin, his wife, posting this picture of herself praying for peace with the kremlin in the background. schluter has been scornfully continued ties with russia. some of his privileges as a former chancellor have been withdrawn and he is facing an investigation by his party, the social democrats over his kremlin lynx. i asked he w politics, a correspondent, nina hossa. whether there is any sense in germany that the former chancellor could play some kind of mediation role in the conflict. well, as the lens,

his reaction is pretty much mirrored here in the german press to day as well. people call screwed up putin's puppet, et cetera. you mustn't forget that term. god sorta is suggesting getting not stream to so that controversial gas pipeline. we've all been talking about so much that he's getting that going to make up for the lack of gas deliveries via not stream one from russia. but what he doesn't mention is that he gets florida himself is the president of the board of directors of not stream to so he'd benefit personally. and that is reason enough to doubt that he could be the neutral mediator. he's pretending to be and yes, he is still the only high ranking politician in his party who still has links to putin. but as far as government circles are concerned, politicians here from the, from his own party, keep telling us that should or is acting on his own behalf. and definitely not in the name of the government. it is possible that back in february when the war 1st

escalated that some consider using him as an official mediator. but since then showed a really has completely sidelined himself here in berlin with statements that repeat the russian view word by word and make it look essentially as though the german government is lying. he's mentioned his party, the s p d. they've more or less disowned him. he is currently facing an internal investigation. what exactly is it that his party b s b d is investigating? well, the, a city is looking into 17 official requests to kick him out of the party because of his close ties with russia and in particular with russians, state owned energy companies. so the party itself says that it is not too optimistic that they'll be successful in kicking him out for legal reasons. what's working in favor here of florida is that as florida did leave the supervisory board of energy giant crossing in may. and he also didn't accept a nomination to post or the supervisory board of gas from after

a lot of pressure on him. so the sbc that they will represent the result of that investigation in a few days next monday. and sorta can then appeal the decision and the legal battle could track on for a while. do you think that with his lobbying on behalf of twos in the russian gas injury industry, do you think that that could even lead to him being sanctioned by the government? it's not looking like to that the moment the european parliament back in may spoke out in favor of imposing you sanctions on guards because of his activities at ross and left. and then he did leave ross in f. so that's not looking very likely d w. 's nina has, i think so much for that now, emergency services are at the scene of a large fire here in berlin's. going to vote forrest, the blaze broke out to police munitions. death though, with a fire service reporting, a number of explosions, authorities say some 15000 square meters of wooded area are burning uncontrollably

with a heat wave complicating fire fighting efforts. a perimeter has been set up in case of further explosions and flying debris. the destination site houses and munitions and fireworks among other explosives. a fire fighting help helicopter has been requested and the german army is also on site. the fire has disrupted road and rail traffic. small let's cross straight to d, w correspondent, emanuel chas who is live at the scene for us high. emma and we're hearing fire fighters can't actually get to the blaze because it's still too dangerous. but more can you tell us exactly. i'm yeah, i am here a 1000 meters away from where the, the fire actually a rate is on and firefighters cannot excessive because there is a danger of further explosions. which is why we have these cordon all around the fire, a 1000 meters. and they are watching, they are looking out

a fire progresses already 15000 square meters of forest have burned. and now on the or we can smell the fire was to winter. we smell the smoke we can see as well in the sky. the sky has become a bit more gray, so the fire continues on with the supposed for. some of the 5 parties are telling me earlier that he doesn't expect the situation to be sold any time today. he expects firefighters to continue having to work on that fire throughout the day, probably throughout the night. and probably for the days to come. i should say that i live 5 kilometers from the site. i heard the explosions in the early hours. they were massive. but from what we're hearing the surrounding areas, the people who live close by on to asked at risk, is that correct? yes, there is no immediate danger for a residency in glen. nevada, of course, had to have been many detonations this morning. and that's because the ammunition

day pro, well it's have confiscated fireworks from new year's eve here in berlin. he tells so have ammunition, small and big including unexploded devices from world war 2, which is why fi fi to us cannot approach it. so of course the situation remains very volatile and very dangerous on site, and of course it has disrupted, for example, public transport with trains no longer running edi area, with a highway being also blocked at dead. but for people living in the area, there is no immediate danger. d w correspondent, manual shares. thanks for the update. some sports, news and well triathlon has approved a new policy, allowing transgender athletes to keep competing in female categories. however, they must demonstrate continuously lower levels of testosterone for at least 2 years, and cannot have competed as a male in any sporting competition in the past 4 years. now,

the new regulations come into effect in september and do not mention transgender athletes in mail events. set you up today. it's coming up next week. conflict zone talks to format russian prime minister mckayla miano. remember, you can always get more news on our website. that's d, w dot com. and you can of course, follow us on social media asked w. news is the handle that you need. i'm on the cooper mckennon. thanks for watching and have a lovely day. ah ah, [000:00:00;00]

with who? into the conflict with sebastian? little is known about the inner workings of the kremlin,

especially with vladimir putin in power. but my guest this week, former prime, you're from utah, cassiano. we're on the phone and he knows more up front behind the close pool with the russian government. a oh, into english, come take a look at this tv highlights every week in your inbox, subscribe. now. i am kathy k, a here in iowa, sexual assault survivor, filipino i for those of us, can we shoot speaker then to step up and

say the 2 women in asia back to see if it's too simple. don't be afraid to make mistakes. nothing can soften. that is that you are right. i am actually to feel and found her. so cra, taking care of yeah, is mean her women into this week with little is known about the inner workings of the kremlin, especially with vladimir putin in power. but my guess this week, former prime minister because cassiano worked on the putin in the early 2 thousands