[000:00:00;00] ah ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin, china steps up. it's military activity around taiwan, beijing puts on its biggest show of force around the island indicates following

a controversial visit by us. how speaker nazi hello, see. also coming up for my german chancellor. gerhard schroeder faces renewed criticism the his links to russian leda blood in their present. and on world breastfeeding day, we had to france to discover why so many women that prefer to feed that babies from the bull. ah, i'm and he keeps mckennan, thanks so much for joining us. china is stepping up its military activity around taiwan as tensions rise. following the visit of u. s. house speaker nancy pelosi. beijing is preparing it's biggest show of force around taiwan. in decades the government in taipei says it scrambled jets to warn off chinese aircraft that entered its ad offense zone, and

a number of taiwanese ministry websites have come under cyber attack. a policy 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 asian cold precision missiles strikes in the taiwan strait. this new escalation comes as beijing hits back for us house baker, nancy pelosi, his visit to ty pay. pelosi reaffirmed us commitment to defending ty, ones, democracy as the islands governments scramble jets to water of chinese aircraft encroaching on the air space. what was 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, which i 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 us, young countries, ruler, 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. asi on is positioning

itself as a negotiator. it's cold for all sides to de escalate, wanting a miscalculation could lead to open conflict. t w's correspondence in taipei. joyce lee gave me an update on the military maneuvers. well up to now china has fired more than 10, ballistic miss. so as 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 by the p l. a announced her day that they will extend it for more one more day until monday lie fire drill was take place in 7 songs, including an area just 20 kilometers from the south of 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 beijing tries to encircle the island like this. the de facto blockade is a direct challenge to free air and sea navigation ponies fishermen rushed to go back to the pulse full safety as for international flights, departing in a rocking in taiwan, they have to fly alternative routes to avoid the dangerous stones. it's was no attendance on china's social media. waybill and we chat chinese citizens have express huge disappointment at beijing. silicone action to stop hello see from of visiting taiwan manny we're expecting to appeal a chew, tech hope laying down, but it didn't happen and not 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. man, you fear the pressure could prompt china to take even tova measures against taiwan

. and the drew could be, you know, practicing full of future invasion. that was d. w. 's. joyce lee from taiwan studio. now to none policy direct is the director of the institution security and international studies to long corn university in thailand. i asked him if he was surprised by the extent of china's military sizes around taiwan. because the timing is, is he missed below c. so is it that took place just days before the 1st and foremost meetings and all this? you know, you know, he has a lot to deal with the me and my sister who and the civil war in the south china sea before that china's the, 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 is the kind of the bridge and broke

a for the big players for the major. so now it is it, at this cross trade crisis with china, a military life fire drills going to exacerbate and you know, it does not help us tend to maintain its 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 to talk to each other. i see. and 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 we've seen with the robbery, audition in china, russia question. 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 are 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 we'll have no kind of bridge to, to have dialogue and no mediator. so i think that job look a bit now sitting on a post direct from chill along corn university in thailand. thanks so much for that fascinating analysis. a kate, i'm to take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. lebanon is commemorating 2 years since a massive port side explosion killed more than 200 people in the capsule bay route . the blast was recorded as one of the largest non nuclear explosions in history. and 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 wild fire in north west and spain. the blaze started in the autonomous region of galicia, spain, as having its worst year on record for wild fires and has lost more land them than any other country in europe. and un secretary general antonio good harish was urged governments to introduce special taxes on the profits of oil and gas companies as comments corner of the front of the world. biggest energy firms posted record quarterly profits driven by surging energy prices. the terrorist said it was immoral companies to profit from the crisis. the ukranian president, the modem is the lensky has condemned comments by the former german chancellor. gerhard schroeder suggesting that russia wants to negotiate a solution to its war of aggression. schluter is refusing to cut his close personal ties with russian liter vladimir putin and is facing an investigation by his own policy. here in germany, the social democrats. it was

a so style diplomatic mission to the kremlin. vladimir putin spokesman concerns that former german chancellor. gerhard schroeder, match a russian president on the moscow visit last week in an interview with german media, assured 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 early. first of all, 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 rush is using these people as messengers there them to say that the terrorist state allegedly wants negotiations, bearablewood, scotch, 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 correspondent nina has a whether there's any sense here 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, god, sorta 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 yet 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 sure that 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 em escalated that some consider using him as an official mediator. but since then should

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's currently facing an internal investigation. what exactly is it that his party b s, b d is investigating? while the sbc is looking into 17 official requests to kick him out of the party because of his close ties with russia and in particular with russian state owned energy companies. so the party itself says that it is not too optimistic that there will be successful in kicking him out for legal reasons. what's working in favor here of florida is that those who the did leave the supervisory board of energy giant crossing left in may. and he also didn't accept a nomination to post 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 so that 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 that the moment the european parliament back in may spoke out in favor of imposing you sanctions on guard, should i because of his activities of ross and left and then he did leave ross and left. so that's not looking very likely. dw nina has. i think so much for that. ukraine's foreign ministry says russia is tracing 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. t w's bigot

ashika matched the parents of one man being held by the russians. they fear he could suffer a similar fate each morning if gania would carriage take some time for herself in 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 so clinical. 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 anymore. only in the early mornings. i allow myself to cry. what's its difference? it does when it is yeah, the couple 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 to wish union school. so she directed me 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. so it's a good job. 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, a 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 a shift in the blue cross blue to 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 office confirmed that russia is holding more than 7000 ukrainian so just prisoner. but they won't talk about any of it on camera, because negotiations for prisoners swaps on top 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, this is done mostly for their political purposes. when you create search and you know, important to person, great march, you know, you can use it to in their political, you know,

treat but yes. again. yeah. and or like sunday i don't want things to get that far . they fire the know didn't appear to the european court of human rights. they say they will fight with everything they have until maxine it's really health experts have long said that breastfeeding is the most beneficial way to feed a baby, yet you than the united nation says less than half of all incense are exclusively breastfed in their 1st 6 months now it's currently world breastfeeding week, and so the u. n. is trying to raise awareness of the issue. and in this next report, we're going to take a look at france, which for years has had one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. mullin and matthew has a very young visited work to be a 5 month old daughter boone. she's a 3rd typed mullins to breastfeed, so once or twice a day, the world health organization says breastmilk is the ideal food for infants

providing essential nutrients that help protect against illness. brutal also drinks formula since melinda a lawyer had to go back to work 3 months after her book. but juggling work, she says, isn't the only challenge when it comes to breastfeeding her daughter in france? all that done cuz people are surprised that they still breastfeed her. i came back from hospital after her birth and was really exhausted. people would say, why are you torturing yourself by breastfeeding? take it easy, your husband should take her. now i did feel a bit of job torn luke. there are more whistle till monday says her decision to nurse, starting with the 1st child 6 years ago, was not an easy one. i felt a bit alone. i was surprised when staff at the maternity hospital gave my son a feeding bottle. without my consent, i really wanted to breastfeed him. it was the 1st sign that something was wrong. it

have come out of motherly mullins experience is not unusual in france. statistics showed that less than 70 percent of mothers would start breastfeeding at all, and the number drops to just 22 percent of the 6 months. experts see a big reason is frances rent to be short maternity leave to 16 weeks after baby's book. but the aversion to nothing once deeper than that got on a v is a private lactation consultant. in more than paris, she helps future mothers prepared to breastfeed and helps troubleshoot when there's a problem with our printer that we have to. dish is advising a client over the phone and i got all says women wanting to breastfeed in france. fis, an uphill battle because of the lack of awareness across society. but it's a great lack of support support from the community in general, the health care professional, or just talk with help know much, much about breastfeeding. so as soon as there's some kind of issue, they will say,

well, then you can go home, you know, making maybe you can drop right, breastfeeding and, and use a bottle. in french, feminists in the seventy's weren't really into breastfeeding. in comparison to the swedes or the region mothers, our mothers didn't breast feed. so we don't have a culture that supports breastfeeding. despite its look, breastfeeding weights, france is far from being the only country, but mothers switch early to infant formula. the world health organization says that across the globe, less than half of all newborns, uh breasted. within the 1st i will flip or drink breastmilk exclusively for the recommended 6 months. amy brown as a professor as maternal and child public health. it's one z in of us in the u. k. i spoke to her earlier and asked why it's some when some women don't breastfeed, i think a lot of women want to breastfeed and would really like to breastfeed their baby,

but when their baby is actually born, they find that the support just isn't in place for them to be able to do so. i mean, breastfeeding is obviously very, very natural, but that doesn't necessarily mean that is easy. so without the support system around you. whether that support with practically latching your baby on all broader support around caring for your baby and going back to work, then it can be really, really challenging. and a lot of women are then stopping far, far before they're ready to do so. so support has a huge issue here, but of course, and breastfeeding culture differs around the world. doesn't say, can you explain to us why that is and how that works very much. so different countries really have very different attitudes to breastfeeding both in terms of how normal they think it is. and how likely you are to see it amongst your friends and family. so if you have a culture that is really supportive of breastfeeding and it has really high

breastfeeding rights, and it's much easier to breastfeed your baby because everybody around you is likely to be accepting of breastfeeding. and they know what to do when you've got a problem. now, if you're in a country where breastfeeding rates are really low, then not only is the support not in place to help you with that. but when you talk to your friends and family about it, even if they're supportive of you, they don't really know how to help. say, it ends up being even a bigger issue because the support isn't there. and the understanding isn't there either. the benefits of breastfeeding a clear do you think women aunts don't have enough education and information about how good it is for them? and quite frankly, how, how good it can be for the, for a new mother as well. and i think to some extent, then we're not very good about talking about the benefits of breastfeeding for a mother's health in particular. but i think

a lot of women really do know the benefits for their baby, and they really, really want to be able to breastfeed. it's just that the circumstances that they're trying to breastfeed n o most set up against them. it's like we tell them that breastfeeding is really good for them and their baby when they're pregnant and then their baby is born and the support is needed for them to carry that. i just isn't in place. so i don't really think it's a case of telling women how great it is. it's more really a case of telling everybody around them about how important it can be to a mother. not just for health reasons, but because it's something she wants to do it's, it's how she wants to cat her baby. so from what you've been saying, what's needed most to encourage more women to breastfeed is support. i presume rice at the beginning when the babies are 1st born, but also in the months after that. absolutely. i think we just need a really big investment in supporting breastfeeding, but also supporting mothers more generally through those early months of having

their baby. so if they are better supported, if they have better maternity pay, if they have longer maternity leave, then the whole experience becomes a lot easier. i think we do need direct support for breastfeeding, but we also need better support for mothers and motherhood in general and just that really challenging experience of becoming a new parents. so i think that we looked after on the mother's batter, we'd actually see our breastfeeding rates rise to such an important topic. amy brown, professor of maternal and child public health is one's a university. thanks so much for talking to us. and finally, a volcano has erupted near iceland, capital, reykjavik, after days of earthquake activity. dozens of people were brave enough to make it to the site. the 300 meter crevice is much longer than the fisher opened by a nearby eruption last year. now that became a major tourist attraction during thousands of visitors. iceland has interruption

every 5 years on average. this is the 7th in the last 21 years. in watching the w news coming up next in d. w at news asia, shoreline, because people stick with their demands for change despite intimidation from the government. and why this pakistani minister is calling her country the ground, 0 of climate change, all as stories and more coming up next on d, w, 's asia with berrish banshee, that richardson will be here at the top of the next hour with another news round up . so stay tuned for that if you can. i'm when you could, mckinnon in berlin, thanks for watching d w. and have a lovely day. ah,

[000:00:00;00] with ah ah,

yeah. it's a journey across the entire continent with a variety of cards. so what this, so all the focus, the mover shake is visionaries and majors when binding the meaning of modern africa is actually starts august, the 5th on d w. ah, come on, let's be honest. summer break, it just doesn't really mean much. does it without the bond is league as well. don't worry. we'll all start up again soon. as legal football, action goals,

all in on kick off. starts august 9th here on d w. finally, we're all good to go beyond the obvious as we take on the world. 8 hours. i do all this. yeah. we're all about the story that matter to you whatever it takes by policemen. a deal we are your is actually on fire made for mines. hm. ah, this is d w. news aisha coming up to dave, she lumpkins, determined to continue their fight for change the government as press down on pump into protests,