>> this is "dw news" live from berlin. tonight, the power of the panda. china and germany engaged in panda diplomacy. germany and china's presidents underscore the relationship with a trip to the zoo. we went along. also coming up, guarding the world's most guarded. hamburg prepares to host world leaders and the g 20 summit, but with tens of thousands of protesters expected, we ask, can

german police keep the peace? and the united states and south korea fire off their own missiles as a warning to north korea after pr yang testfired an intercontinental ballistic missile -- after pr yang -- after pr yang -- after pyongngyg testfirered an intercontinental baballistic missile. i'm frank of the -- i'm brent goff. it's good to have you with us. chinese president xi jinping is headed to the g 20 summit, but before heading to hamburg, he

spent the day in the german capital with the german chancellor. they renew their commitment to deepening ties and visited this is, unveiling its newest residence, a pair of giant pandas, from china to germany on loan as a symbol of friendship. >> china's president brought with him two giant panda bears on loan to germany as a token of friendship. they will be housed at berlin zoo. that is the official version. "we believe that relations between nations are rooted in the friendship shared by people, and i hope these pandas will further deepened these relations." in return, the zoo had to fork out more than 10 million euros for the pandas' new home and

will have to invest one million more each year, but nobody is talking numbers right now. the symbolism is apparently too overwhelming, even for germany's chancellor, angela merkel. >> we had two charming diplomats here, and i think they will be special envoys for our countries and hopefully bring lots of joy to the people. >> xi jinping arrived in germany monday night and met the chancellor for a private dinner. the official welcomed took laced tuesday morning at the residence of the german president. everything was designed to please this important guest, who angela merkel sees as a crucial partner in the upcoming g 20 summit in hamburg. merkel even spared xi jinping the discomfort of taking questions from the german press. the chinese president repaid the gesture by praising germany.

>> we are delighted to see that thanks to the joint efforts of our countries, relations have reached a top level. >> both countries signed several treaties on commerce and cooperation. china, for example, will buy 140 airbus jets worth over 120 billion euros. both countries want to work closely together in developing countries. >> we had just signed a treaty to cooperate on a hydropower plant. we want to cooperate on projects in africa and afghanistan. >> the pandas are meant to couple and produce offspring but are being held in separate compounds, as apparently, they

would not get along. also some sort of panda diplomacy. >> i'm joined in the studio by a chinese author and scholar focusing on human and political rights issues in her home country china. she now lives here in germany. let's talk about these pandas. you were protesting the chinese president's visit today. how do you view these two iconic pandas, gifts to germany? >> like everybody, i love these two pandas, but i hate to say i do not have the humor to observe this kind of -- there is a german word. i think this is just a show. it does not have really a symbol

of friendship or sympathy for animals. it is just business. >> i was going to pick up on that. up until the 1980's, pandas were offered as diplomatic gifts, but now they are no longer gifts you can keep. they are given on loan, which sounds like just a business deal. >> it is the business -- it is a business deal, and you know the chinese are very clever, very smart. they never do a bad bargain. this is just to show this is a peaceful time. this is a symbol of good friendship and a good relationship to germany, but there are some really very bad, evil, cruel things behind it because i have something in my mind. that's why i'm going to the demonstration. >> you were protesting the

president's visit today. we understand the president also did not have to take reporters' questions at the press conference. do you think that germany or the german chancellor made it too easy for the chinese president? >> i don't think so. i think chancellor merkel is a very good diplomat. in the lasast 10 days, the whole world is worried about the health condition of the nobel peace prize winner of 2010. he has been kept in jail since 2008 and sentenced to 11 years. after almost nine years, his health condition is very bad. he has a cancer, and everybody tried to help because he has a

wish to go to the west to get better medical treatment. i think it is his last will to get some fresh air, to have a breath of freedom, and the chinese government is not wanting to do that. >> that's what i was going to ask -- do you think these gestures that have been made by germany toward the chinese president -- are they going to achieve what this dissident would like to see a cheap, and that is a chance to breathe this fresh air before he dies? >> well, i think chancellor merkel did not say it openly, but i know from different sources that the german government -- they have done a lot of effort to help, and shee doeses not want president xi jinping to lose his face and

agree to let him go. they will never say that. the chinese and never say it openly. >> we certainly appreciate you taking the time to talk with us and share your insights. thank you. >> thank you. >> tonight, a massive security operation is under way as the german city ofofamburg prerepars to host ththg 20 summit. protesesters have stageged whaty call a zombibie theater acaction with what -- with more than 1000 actors taking to the streets. police are preparing to deal with thousands of useful protesters along with as many as 8000 they fear may turn violent. the g 20 summit venue is sealed off and heavily protected. that is where our very own max

hoffman is in the thick of it in hamburg. tell us about the security arrangements you have seen. you have been in the middle of one of those protests, haven't you? >> i am. this is a peaceful protest, at least so far. actually, it has turned into a full-blown rave party. this is sort of the tail end of that protest. it has gotten bigger and bigger ever since it started two or three hours ago. this is probably a g 20 demonstration at its best, but make no mistake -- in the side streets, you have policemen. they retreat and try not to provoke anyone. that is why they are in the side streets. they have dozens of police cars preceding and in the

demonstration, but so far, extremely peaceful people having fun here. if it can stay that way, i'm sure g 20 organizers would take it. >> yes, i'm sure g 20 organizers would love it if it turned into a big love parade, but we know that is not what is expected. we knonow police are going intoo this with a zero-tolerance policy for any violence. what are they expecting by the time saturday rolls around? >> you have about 20,000 police officers in the city, which is a record. the biggest engagement of german police so far. what we could tell his they are being very respectful of the people, but as i mentioned earlier, they are not on the sidelines. they are not in full gear, but they are keeping their distance. if they see in the incidence, they will hit hard -- if they

see in the incidents -- if they see any incidents, they will hit hard. it works well here today, but it might not work as well tomorrow because tomorrow and t thursday, we have the worst of what will possibly be violent demonstrations. at least that's what organizers expect. if you take the name as any indication of what it might be like, it is called welcome to hell. >> you just called them ravers. i have to ask you -- what are they protesting against? >> what are you protesting against? >> i don't like in the city of hamburg, that it's directly in the city of hamburg because

hamburg -- a lot of people are on the left side wing. for instance, in another city in germany, munich, for instance, would be better than hamburg because we are more left wing. >> that is what many people are saying. they think it is a provocation that it is in hamburg, which is the center of the political left. >> all right, our correspondent in the midst of a love parade/rate/protest -- love parade/rave/protest in hamburg. the u.s. considering new actions against north korea after jan yang -- pyongyang testfired an

intercontinental missile. nikki haley says the actions are quickly closing off the possibility of a diplomatic solution. >> south korea's simulation outlines step-by-step the coununtry's capacity to strike t its northern neighbor and also appears to show a missile being dropped on the northth defense ministry. south korea wararned that its military was fully prepared. "if north korea ignores our military''s warning and continus provocationsns, we clearly warnd that the kim jong-un regimime wl face destrtruction." earlier in the day, the u.s.s. d sosouth korea carriedd out a tet launch of missiles off south korea's coast.

north korea published this footage today, saying it showed the successful launch of the missile it testfired yesterday. it said the rocket was capable of c carrying a nuclear warhead. it is the latest in a series of nuclear test in defiance of a banned by the united nations security council -- in defiance of a ban by the united nations seserity councncil. >> we e will be right back aftea sticky -- 62nd break. stick around. -- 60-second break. stick around.

>> welcome back. you are with "dw news" life in front of berlin. china's president says he is upbeat about a new phase in relations with germany after talks with chancellor angela merkel in berlin. they unveiled the city's newest residents at the zoo, a pair of giant pandas on loan from china as a token of friendship. egypt and its allies say they will continue sanctions against qatar. they are accusing the emirate of

rejecting their ultimatum, which expired last night. the foreign ministers of or arab states have cut ties with qatar met in cairo, accusing qatar of sponsoring terrorism and already cut commercial tieie delhi denies that, saying qatar champions freedom, not terrorism, in the middle east. we have no cave-in from qatar. we have no new sanctions from saudi arabia and its allies.. wherere are we? whwhat does this mean? > good evening. good queststion. i thihink we are exactly where e were three weeks ago.. we have seen t the same unsubsbstantiated clalaims witit any real evidence being provided. at thehe same time, , they havet

really com upp with any new demands or any further sanctions, which is what was expected initially, so they will reconvene in a couple of days and probably come up with further sanctions or some sort of reaction. they said they were not happy with qatar's reply. we have to see what actually will come out of it. >> it sounds like empty threats. they have extended the deadline. now the deadline has passed and nothing is happening. as youou said, we're bacack whee were four weeks ago. >> rightht. i think k what we see here is te end of a missed strategic calculation. it really seems these four countries d did not a and stillo not have a strategy on whahat ty want andnd how to popotentially acachieve it. initially,y, they thohought they wowould have the fulull supportf

the e trunk adadministrationon e unitited states wowould back thn ththis pressssure againstst qatt unfortunately oror fortunately, the e trunk admininistration --e trumpp administrtration has been quite ambiguous about whatt they wawant to hapen.n. theyey itiallyly said thehey wat qatar to back down.. itit seemed donald trump was on the side of the uaeae and saudi arababia, but on the other hand, the defense departmement andlsoo the state departmentt werere o e side o of qatar or l leaning tod qatar at l least becausese theyw ththe importance of qatatar in e fifight a against terrorism, for u.s. milititary operatations ine region, as well as they know how importrtant is s to have qaqatn their side in terms of cracking down on terror financing. for them, , a united gcc is more importrtant than a dis-united g.

the problem wi the fouou countrs s that have imposed ththese sanctions i is that thty escalated d to quickly a and too much -- - they escalated toooo ququickly and totoo ch. they canannot reaeally increasee pressusure without goioing to w, and that is the strategegic dilemma they are in. they cannott really further increasese pressure a and at the same time c cannot be sn asas backing down. qatar seems to be more resilient, able to deal with it bebetter thaththey inititially thoughght. >> thank you for joining us from king's college in london. we appreciate your insights. it is time to talk he mobility -- e-mobility. >> that's right. i have two announcements that raise eyebrows in the automotive world. german carmaker daimler says it will build car batteries in

china with both sides coughing up 650 billion euros. that as volvo announced the end of the combustion engine starting as early as 2019. new models will be eitherr electric or hybrid. >> the combustion engine's days are numbered, at least at volvo. step by step, the swedish carmaker wants to make a break with purely combustion engines in coming years. the company says starting in 2019, every new volvo will be powered by an electric or hybrid engine. it says the move is in reaction to customer demand. the company has invested heavily in the new technhnology since 2010, and there is a reason for it. china is leading the pack in electro-mobility with 40% of global production. germany produces 23%, while the usa is at 17%.

nowhere on earth are there more electric cars on the road than in china. the government is applying pressure. beijing wants to impose a quota, demanding that foreign companies increase the percentage of electric cars they produce for the chinese market. that is also putting pressure on german carmakers. >> as for a quick market check up, let's cross over to wall street. the first real trading day of the second half of the year. what is keeping investors busy? >> we did have a little bit of a run in technology. on the other side, we had quite a selloff in oil prices, the worst day for oil in about a month, and that put pressure on oil stocks. blue chips much unchanged, but

monday, we set new records. next week, earnings season will get under way, and overall, investors are quite upbeat that companies will report profit and revenue increases. >> shares of he car -- of e-car maker tesla were under pressure. tell us why? >> the stock sold off more than 7%, and we saw different reasons for it. first of all, there is speculation that sales of the model x and model s might have to to -- might have led to -- might have plateaued. also, goldman sachs came out saying the stock price could be cut in half from where we are now. there could be some delivery issues. we do not know if that is true. we know just because an analyst says something that does not

mean it becomes reality, but there is some uneasiness surrounding tesla. but we are waiting for the first model three being finished at the tesla plant. we also should not forget that so far this year, the stock is up by about 70%. on wednesday, quite the pressure on the stock rise. >> thank you. some claim that during the last 15 years, china has had more impact on the european continent than half a century of development aid -- on the african continent and half a century of european development aid. a fair amount of people criticize the chinese engagement on the continent due to overriding commercial motives, like in malawi. >> the brand-new soccer stadium

in the background is still out of reach for these men. going in and watching a game is still unaffordable for this bicycle taxi driver. >> i i live from hanand to mout. everything is for food. >> the national stadium was built with credits from china. >> we know africa is our brothers and sisters and are always ready to assist. >> this is china's largest african investment -- the new $4 billion railway connecting the kenyan capital, nairobi, with the harbor city of mumbai's a -- the harbor cityy of mumbasa. china sees africa as a huge market to sell their goods. now the train lines are being expanded. soon, they will connect to most

of east africa. many people here are thanknkful for the project that china makes possible, but others are asking what the chinese expect in return. >> they are bringing good things to us. at the same time, they are also taking our natural resources. >> in kenya, it's crude oil. in malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, it's rare earths. raw materials needed to make batteries for e-cars and smartphones. the chinese president read -- answered questions by reading from a prewritten statement. >> some have suggested that china's investment in africa is to grab its resources. it's totally erroneous as the world can become a better place only through common development. china wants to make the world a

beautiful place through common prosperity. >> this taxi driver cannot afford a four-euro ticket on a salary of 20 euros a month, so he just continues to listen to the game on his radio. >> that is all your business news. >> have a good night. what are you doing after work? >> i will have a nonalcoholic drink. >> sounds like a good idea. after a short rate, i will be back to take you through the day. some of us have to work. we will see you later. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> welcome back. the top stories this hour -- tar set toon qa continue. to a formertribute lawmaker, holocaust survivor who spent her life fighting for women's rights and european integration. and the un security council meets to discuss north korea's latest missile launch. successfully fired its first long-range missile on tuesday.