>> thihis is "dw news," live frm berlin. britain's prime minister challenges the german chancellor over brexit. boris johnson presses angela merkel to reopen the deal under his predecessor and scrapped the plan to include a hard border with ireland. britain is planning to leave the block on october 31. after weeks at sea, italy allows the open arms rescue ship to land. authorities say they are investigating conditions that

forced some migrants on board to attempt to swim ashore. plus, donald trump puts his trip to denmark on ice. the u.s. president cancels a plan state visit with the tweet after the danish prime minister called his plans to buy greenland absurd. sumi: i'm sumi somaskanda. thank you for joining us. we start with the latest chapter in the brexit saga right here in berlin. boris johnson is meeting with angela merkel. he is trying to convince the german chancellor to reopen negotiations over britain's withdrawal from the eu. he is demanding the eu scrap the so-called irish backstop, the plan to include a hard border with ireland. johnson and merkel have excess optimism that britain can reach a negotiated deal to leave the eu, but johnson has

insisted that britain will depart, deal or no deal, on october 31. reporter: "no brexit," protesters shout, as british prime minister boris johnson arrives in berlin. for the first time since he took office a month ago, he met with german chancellor angela merkel. his goal, to reopen negotiations on brexit. prime min. johnson: we in the u.k. want a deal. we seek a deal. i believe we can get one. we can do it. [speaking g german] i believe is the phrase. [laughter] prime min. johnson: but clearly we cannot accept the current withdrawal agreement. reporter: johnson wants to scrap the backstop, a clause to prevent the return of c checks f ththe irish border.

the eu has ruled out renegotiating the existing agreement. merkel said johnson the challenge of finding a resolution quickly. chancellor merkel: the backstop has always been a last resort. perhaps we will find it in the next 30 days. why shouldn't we? reporter: both merkel and johnson seem optimistic that a solution can be found. in berlin, however, no solution has yet emerged. time is running out. if no side moves, the u.k. may head for a no-deal exit at the 22 of october. -- end of october. sumi: dw's geopolitical editor is standing outside the talks. the irish backstop, this insurance policy to prevent a hard border on ireland -- did we hear anything in terms of

alternatives to the backstop? reporter: well, we certainly heard from boris johnson once again that the backstop simply cannot be on the cards as far as he is concerned. when it comes down to it, there has not been much change. at the same time, i must add that this is the first can do attitude, the first air of can-do attitude, that we have heard in a very long time with angela merkel putting the idea of a solution in 30 days on the table, and boris johnson accepting that the onus is on the brits to come up with some proposals. all of us in the media and politicians across the continent and beyond will be watching very closely weather now at last there could be some kind of movement that would make the backstop obsolete altogether, which was angela merkel's preferred option anyway. sumi: tell us more about the 30-day timetable. seems to have come out of nowhere. michaela; yes, and that is what

it appeared like. it seems like it was a tenuous comment by the german chancellor, but there could be a calculation ingrained in that to get london tube,--london to come up with a concrete proposal. boris johnson was asked specifically, did you bring anything, what would that look like, avoiding a hard border. he said that britain would not stand for a hard border and would not set of anything like that, but what could be the alternative. he said there could be some kind of technical solution. that is still very vague. it will be interesting to see whether now he will get more specific over the coming weeks. tomorrow he is due to be in paris, which has been a lot less patient than the german chancellor when it comes to the brexit extension. emmanuel macron was against that from the beginning, and at the weekend he will meet g7 leaders for his first big exchange on

the big issues in the world, including iran, hong kong, you name it, which were also discussed today, we learn. sumi: what do you think for boris johnson -- what do you think he can take home from today's talks with angela merkel? michaela: boris johnson has got his work cut out for him after that press briefing today. he has some homework to do. there is an acceptance there, and there is also an air that this is about political point-scoring, because of britain does leave the eu in a hard brexit on the 31st of octotober, he will need to be ae to pin the blame somewhere, and that could well end up being berlin, paris, and brussels. sumi: our chief political editor michaela kufner speaking to us. thank you.

let's get a round up of some other stories making news around the world. the u.s. government has unveiled a new rule that lifts a legal barrier limiting the amount of time children of migrants can be detained. the department of homeland security secretary kevin mcale enan on wednesday announced that the agreement that limited attention of children to 20 days will be allowed to expire. pro-democracy devastator's in hong kong have staged a protest at a suburban train station where masked man attacked protesters one month ago. activists say they want to draw attention to the lack of progress by police investigating the attack. many believe the attackers have links to organized crime. nigerian president buhari has sworn in his new cabinet almost six months after he was elected to a second term. buhari remains minister of petroleum.m. at is consnsidered the most important ministerial post because oil exports account for

90% of nigeria's foreign exchange. italy's president is holding talks with political leaders in rome to explore possible avenues out of the country's political crisis. he is meeting with the leaders of italy's two houses of parliament and political parties. the main opposition p party, the centererleft demococratic partys indicated it is prepared to discuss a possible coalition with the antiestablishment five-star movement. the talks come after the cuts of the previous collision between the five star movement and the far right in the. if no agreement is reached, italy could see new elections for the end of the if also dw's max zander is covering this from rome. here is what he had to say. max: the government crisis is in full swing afterer prime ministr conte decided to step down, and nonow the ball is in the court of the italian president. his obligatition will be to fina

new, strong coalalition government. this could be made u up of the five star movement t gether with the centerleft pd party instead of matteo salalvini's far-right league. but at the moment it is not clear if pd wants to be parart f the govevernment. matteo salvinini, on thehe other hand, has a a different p plan. he wanants new electioions, sosomething heas been rorooting for l l along. he i is quite popular at the moment. he's pulling at 37%. but between now and the earliest election date, which would be in octotober, a lot t to change, ad the president is doing his best to find a solution as soon as possible, possibly even tomorrow. sumi: staying in italy for the continuing saga of the migrant rescue ship open arms. f eu statesive-- five eu states have agreed to take in dozens of refugees. for weeks italy had been refusing to allow the ship to dock. late on tuesday, and assigned

prosecutor ordered the boat bbc's and the migrants to be brought on short. reporter: shortly before midnight, the rescue ship open arms was allowed to dock. many of the 83 migrants had been on board for nearly three weeks. if sympathizers welcome to them at the harbor and celebrate - these sympathizers welcome to them at the harbor and celebrate their lenny. the rescue ship had been anchored a few hundred meters off the coast four dayays. it was not allowed to come to short.-- shore. but yesterday and italian state prosecutor visited the ship with two doctors to learn about condnditions on boarard. the prosecutor ordered the ship pcs and evacuated in the evening. -- be seized and evacuated in the evening. he ordered an investigation for unlawful abuse of office. the unnamed suspect could be the italian interior minister matteo salvini. he was responsible for

preventing the show from coming to four. >> it is highly likely i'm being investigated. the state prosecutor has begun an inquiry against an unknown person. you can imagine with the unknown person might be. repoporter: a spanish naval vesl is on its way to italy. it is offering to take some of the migrants to spain. sumi: to brazil now, where researchers are reporting an alarming rise in the number of fires burning in the amazon rain forest. this rain forest is the world's largest and serves as a key will work against climate change by storming large amounts of greenhouse gases. most of the blazes have been set by farmers trying to clear the land, but the country's right wing president jair bolsonaro has another theory. he says ngo's are setting the blazes to make him look bad. reporter: more than 72,000 fires this year, an 80% increase over the samame period last year.

smoke is covered nearly half of the country, eu satellite data show, as well as parts of neighboring countries. president jair bolsonaro has a theory about the cause. pres. bolsonaro: i am under the impression that it could have been set by the ngos, because they asked by money. -- for money. reporter: a stunning accusation he had no evidence for. environmentalists called the charge sick and beautiful. the real cause, they say, is false narrow's -- is bolsonararo's o on policies.. whwhen the spacece research cenr reported an 88% increase in deforestation in june compared to june last year, its director lost his job. those who called the amazon home are the first affected by the destruction. >> indigenous groups suffer with the i impact because the food source begins to change. now that hunting is further

away, it forces us to go to the city for industrialized food. reporter:hese groupups may be the e canary ithe coal mine.e. the amazon produces 1/5 o of the world'd's oxyn and absorbs one quarter of all t the co2 taken n byby earth's forests. losing the amazon couldd m mean losing o one of the world's greatest natural defenses against climate change. sumi: let's go to são paulo, where we can speak to the director of public policies at the environmental organization wwf brazil. thank you for joinining us. why are we s seeing so manyny wildfifires in t the amazon rigt now? >> well, it is very clear, the wildfire is a way toto clear la. in brazil it is skykycketing sincee bolsonaro took office the last 12 months we saw an

increase o of 35% deforestation rates, and in wildfireses, increase of 145%. what is happening in the amazon right now is that farmers in rangers are answering bolsonaro's pitch against environmental law and ngos and the brazilian environmental law. sumi: ok, that is not what he says is happening. president bolsonaro has his own theory. he is accusing ngo's of setting the fires in -- themselves to make him look bad. is therere anything toto thahat raul: well, i it's a totally ridiculous accusation, of course. he knonows perfectly well who is putting the fires in the force right now. the land grabbers are criminals inside the forest that are trying to go against the brazilian law. it looks like he doesn't want to go after them.

it is simple to accuse ngos than to do his job, which i is the bt law enforcement on the ground. that's not happening. sumi: the accusations are flying, but most people would agree that the amazon is important, the largest rainforest in the world. put this into perspective for us. how crucial is this ecosystem not only for t t region, brazil, but for the global climate? raul: thehe amazon is very importanant. it is crucucial for brazil. mostst of the rainfall that goes to são paulo, the main cities, so that gives water for people to drink, that gives water for agriculture, that gives water for the industry, comes from the amazon. without the forest, we don't have rainfall year, we don't have rainfall in argentina, we don't have rainfall in most of south america. it is a very important. if we deforest the amazon, we

have one decade of all global omissions of greenhouse gases in the world. amazon is very close to its tipping point.. if we do for us more than 5% -- deforest more than 5% of the amazon, it will turn itself into not a forest anymore, and this will be very bad for brazil and the world. sumi: important message from the director of public policies at dubya wf brazil-- wwf braral, worldwide fund for nature. thank you for joining us. raul: you are very welcome. sumi: roman catholic cardinal george pell has failed to have his conviction on child sex abuse charges overturned. pell is one of the church's most powerful people in the role of the vatican treasurer. he is serving a six-year sentence for sexually abusing two choirboys in the 1990's. reporter: led away in disgrace, 78-year-old george pal leads the

supreme court in memeourne. once dominated australia''s catholic church. now he is a common prisoner. the appeals judge found the controversial jury decision against him was right. >> there has been vigorous and at times emotional criticism of the cardinal. there has also been strong support for the cardinal by others. indeed, it is fair to say that this case has divided the community. >> beautiful! reporter: a few survivors and their supporters celebrated the supreme court ruling. for these people, pell is a symbol of the sins of the church. >> an outstanding example of justice. just amamazed. >> there is a god! they are going to get the catholic church! don't let them do this again! reporter: the case against pell

dates to the mid-1990's. but despite swirling accusations, his star continued toto rise in the catatholic chu. he became one of the vatican's most senior cardinals. even now, the church has not defrocked pell. he has always denied the allegations against him, and may appeal today's verdict. pell butpell -- but pell's conviction has rocked to the catholic church. he will not be eligible for parole until october 2022. sumi: you are watching "dw news ." still to come on our show, what does this remind you of? we will tell you why this ride at a german amusement park has been grounded. but first, u.s. president donald trump has canceled a state visit to denmark because the danish prime minister refuses to talk about sailing greenland to the u.s., describing the proposal as absurd. greenland is an autonomous territory that belongs to denmark. it is the biggest island in the world. its government has said that greenland is not for sale.

reporter: canceled by a tweet. all the plans were in place in copenhagen for a a state visit y the u.s. president. but then donald trump announced on twitter he is not coming after all. denmark is a very special country with incredible people," he tweeted,, "whatat if the danh prime minister does not want to discuss selling greenland" to him, visit is canceled. >> it is with regret and surprised that i received the news that president trump has canceled his state visit to denmark on the second and third of september. i had been looking forward to the visit. this does not change the character of our good relations. and we will of course from denmark continue our ongoing dialogue with the u.s. on how we can develop our cooperation and deal with the common challenges we are facing. reporter: greenland may be

geographically next-door to the united states, but it has been an autonomous danish territory for 200 years and has its own prime minister. he made clear what he thought about trump's real estate author with a meeting -- during real -- real estate offer during a meeting with the danish prime minister this week. >> their americans can trade resources with greenland like any other country. they can trade with us, but our country is not for sale. reporter: there has been a u.s. airbase on greenland since the 195050's, but global powers are increasingly interested in its vast oil, gas, and mineral reserves. sumi: let's talk about this with dw reporter and native dane peter dahl. we heard that prime minister saying she is not angry, just disappointed. what else are you hearing? peter: the prime minister may not be angry but a lot of people are. they see this as completely disrespectful. the speaker of the danish

parliament blasted president trump for his "insolent way to treat the danish people," and the queen called it a complete lack of respect and class. the head of the danish social liberal party even pointing to this as proof that the u.s. under president trump simply cannot be trusted. he called trump's behavior "preposterous" and said "this shows why now more than ever denver -- denmark should consider other members allies, not the u.s.," & off by calling trump you read it. -- erratic. president trump is not very well-liked in denmark. before this hold gree greenland debacle unfolded, 7% of them said he should stay away. i can only imagine what the number must be like today. sumi: how did it even come to

this? how to donald trump come to this idea of buying greenland in the first place? peter: it is not clear why donald trump set his sights on greenland now. only trump knows. it is not a completely novel idea and not as stupid as it may sound. the u.s. discover the benefit of greenland -- i will go back in history a little bit -- during world war ii, denmark invited the u.s. to send militant -- set up military bases to scare financial enemies. geographically -- scare potential enemies. geographically, greenland is located near russia. president truman was quick to see the benefits of that. we offered them $100 million, about $1.2 billion in today's money, to buy greenland. denmark rejected the offer, but allowed the bases to stay. there was a long history there. while the cold war may be over, geopolitical tensions are not,

and part of that is because of global warming. the arctic is heating up. it means that new trade routes potentially, and it has gotten a lot easier to mine rare earth metals, which we use for smartphones, computers. greenland happens to have the largest deposits in the world of those rare metals. huge potential for a businessman like trump. sumi: very interesting stuff. our reporter peter dahl, native dane at dw, bringing the story to us. thank you so much, peter. to sports now, and germany's powerful football association looks like it is getting a new president. officials from professional and amateur clubs give their backing to the head of the bundesliga club. he will lead an association with 7 million members, the largest of its kind in the world. reporter: this stroll into a

news conference was his debut. appearing as the designated german football association president, an office he did not exactly dream about. "i can say that this task was not part of mymy life plan. but actually i am was very happy with what i a achieved and withy family business. " keller is a wine broker and restauranteur. he is currently the president of a bundesliga club. he plans to resign from that position to focus on leading g e german fa back to better times after years of scandal. "football is a matter of the heart. when you go to the pitches a and stand togegether with the people and eat a sausagege, have a soft drink or a beer, and if i can cannabis to football being seen as it really is -- if i can

contribute to football being seenen as it really is, i wouldd cherish that." with the german football association's size and potential power, the president's role could include a top-tier seat with fifa, the global governing body of football. but keller says he will leave those seats to german colleagues. he is mainly concerned with the clubs and rebuilding t the state of a once proud association. sumi: the nazi symbol the swastika is banned here in germany, but sometimes it crops up unintentionally. for example, in the case of an amusement park in the black forest. reporter: as it starts up this ride, called the eagle's flig ht, looks unassuming and a. but once they take to the air, they seem to form a sinister shape. few seem to notice in the park until a video made it online. now the park's owner is repented.

>> first of all, i would like to emphasize that i apologize in any way i can to anyone feels disturbed and insulted. reporter: visitors to the park seemed to take it in their stride. >> you wonder how you can build something like this on the one hand because it really is a sensitive topic. on the other hand, is just engineering that happens to look like that. >> i'm not bothered. i didn't even notice that they might look like swastikas. and the children, they think nothing of it. reporter: the owner is talking to the ride'e's manufacturer abt a rededesign. untill then, the eagles are grounded. sumi: let's get a recap of our top story that we are following for you on dw. british prime minister boris johnson has insisted once more that the eu scrap its plan to avoid a hard border in ireland after brexit.

he is here in berlin for talks with german chancellor angela merkel. she expressed optimism that the u.k. anti-e.u. can still avoid -- the u.k. and the eu can still avoid a no-deal brexit. you are watching "dw news." we will be back in a few minutes with "the date." -- "the day." head to our website, dw.com, and get the latest on twitter. our handle, @dwnews. thank you for watching. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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