you got a huge opportunity right now as you rebuild your economies and bounced back to this pandemic. so here's my wild idea. don't choose extinction savior species before. it's too late, stammering of humans to start making excuses and start making changes. mm mm. ah ah, this is a good use live from berlin, keeping the door open for a diplomatic solution. russia in the united states discussed the kremlin troop

build up around ukraine, but neither side wants to give in to the others demands. also coming up south africa lifts, a nighttime curfew as optimism grows, that it's on a cron wave has passed. the number of new cobra cases has dropped by nearly 30 percent in a week, and hospital admissions are down devastation in brazil as heavy rain and floods destruct the lives of over half a 1000000 people. authorities in the state of bahia, compare the effected area to a war zone and call for international health. ah, i'm nick spicer, welcome to the program. russian president vladimir putin and his american counterpart, joe biden spoke for nearly an hour on thursday as tensions rise over russia's troop build up near ukrainian border. in their 2nd talk this month, biden demanded

a di escalation and threatened russia with new sanctions. but putin warned, at such measures could cause a complete rupture of ties. despite a long list of differences, both sides agreed that progress was made on the call. more talks between senior us, russian, nato and european officials are expected in january to do, and i'm joined now by steven piper, he's an expert in for and, and security policy at the brookings institution for more than 25 years. he worked at the us state department focusing on relations with the soviet union and russia, europe, and on arms control. thanks for joining us. mr. piper. these were the 2nd talks this month between the 2 presidents. do you think any headway is being made? well, i think the talks a produce a bit of good news. 2 things. one is both sides seem to suggest that they see some possibility for negotiation. i don't think that we're there yet. but there seems to

be a sense on both sides, that there may be something to work on. and then the other bit of good news was that the russians confirmed that they agree, there will be 3 sets of talks going on in january. first, a u. s. russian bilateral discussion in john, january 10, anita russia discussion on january 12 and then the conversation of the organization and security corporation, europe, which would bring in everybody. so that seems to be the main use out of this i. so the question still remains are, at the end of the day, the russians put forward some very ambitious proposals. many elements of which are non starters. are they prepared to let that go off to the side and then negotiate on some of the issues that are much more realistic? and we don't yet know the answer to that. just can you remind us of those a non starter proposals from the russian side? sure, i mean, in both in the draft nato russia agreement and the draft u. s. russia. treaty,

russia basically once needed to say, we will no longer enlarge. and the concern on the russian part here is about enlargement to include ukraine. now, there's no enthusiasm within nato. now to put ukraine on a fast track from membership, but nato, i believe, is not going to lead reduce to reverse policy and close we call the open door. the idea that ukraine can aspire to membership, and this is unrealistic on the russians part. because this would be a pause, it would require a change by nato consensus. you're not going to get that many members i believe who would agree to make that change lead. you're not, you're certainly not going to get all 30 to agree to that. so that's one of the nonstarter proposals in the russian packages. and you were talking about the involvement of the i, c, e, nato, and a whole bunch of other international players. how does it become more possible to find a solution when they're more people around the table? how does that help? sure. well,

i think what vladimir putin like is basically moscow and washington get together and decide everything and then dictate the terms. but the, the white house has been very clear for the last several weeks that, well, they're prepared to have a conversation with russia about these broader european security. can it said issues at the end of the day, if there's going to be a negotiation, you can't negotiate about somebody without them being at the table and therefore, the nato, russia channel makes sense. but also the organization for security cooperation. your it makes sense because you're looking for a way to be inclusive in particular, bringing ukrainian because obviously we're on where the russians are coming from. a big point part of their discussion has to wants to be about ukraine. you can't have that negotiation without the ukrainians there. ok, thanks so much for that insight. steven piper from the brookings institution in washington dc let's get you up to date on some of the other stores making use around the world to day. authorities in the american

state of colorado have ordered thousands of residents to evacuate. dry conditions are fueling. the spread of dangerous wildfires and fierce winds are helping the flames jump from one location to the next 2 communities. northwest of denver have been hit by the blazes. indonesian navy has brought more than 100 brit hinge or refugees to shore. after they spent days aboard, a sinking ship. indonesian authorities had originally planned to provide the stricken vessel with humanitarian aid and then push it back into international waters. after pressure from rights groups, the navy has now allow the refugees to disembark and seek shelter. russian authorities have designated a member of the russian punk group pussy riot, just a telecom totally konica as a foreign agent to other people were officially given the title of satirists and an art collector. moved by the justice ministry is being seen as an attempt to stifle dissent in russia should and,

and some of lifting use on the back demick from south africa. government officials have lifted over night curfews and say it's possible the country may be over the peak of alma kron, the very was detected, and gow tang province at the end of november. 6 patients were expected to overwhelm the health care system. but that didn't happen. instead, rates of hospitalization decreased despite the more contagious nature of on the chron. now ahead of the new year, south africans are feeling hopeful. this was the epicenter of only crone, but infections have dropped. and residents of gutting province a basking in the relief as our local health care workers, me grown woe at a at prominent health care level definitely for the average patient cause as much milder symptoms than even delta. if i look at my own personal experience of

a 110 patients, we had that method for 3 to 4 patients. i'm not very severely you. the probability of landing in a hospital with only chron is 80 percent lower than the delta infections. experts say the reason is threefold. a great many people in south africa already have some immunity against the virus due to past infections. secondly, the new variant is weaker, and thirdly, vaccines have helped. almost 40 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. patients who nevertheless need hospitalization, are not severely sick. very often they took off listen, we monitor just how many needed oxygen or ethan. i see you via chemical cause. and that's what he has seen. sophia, whose is when noted in those with on the some south africans wonder if

micron is a blessing in disguise. those who fall sick are not too sick. and the infection act of natural booster in the chinese city of shan, people have been taking the social media to complain. they run out of food because of a major lockdown. the already say the volunteers are now delivering a supplies to people's homes. just one family member per household is allowed to go out and buy groceries and not more than once every 3 days. in china has adopted a 0 tolerance policy towards code 19 infections, which could be a challenge when it host winter olympics. in february. you go to eat up high angle and correspond fabbing credit for joins us now from badging from war. a fabulous many of the 13000000 people living in shank said they are struggling to find enough food, but aging says there's enough. so what's going on?

yeah, it's really crucial to talk to as many local residents and because and yet they will give you a quite a different picture compared to what's been reported in state media. the people from c on that i talked to some of them, they are receiving a foot delivery by the government. many others, however don't, and what they are doing, a se, rely on their neighborhood, for example, with their neighbors. they form chat groups and then she are cooking spices, eggs, meat, et cetera. so, and they rely on themselves m however, most vulnerable are the people that will live quite under privilege, for example, the migrant workers or, and people who don't have a refrigerator, refrigerator at home to store food. and they are, of course, most affected. but compared to the lockdown last year in will, hon, and there is no panic and it's a relatively orderly and erm. what is of javion china doing to prevent the spread of, of the arm across very, but striking it the entire planet where they already have

um, one of the most severe restrictions in place and the broadest a defacto closed, or even for long term residents, not easy to get in and outside of the country and, and when you do and come back then immediately at the airport and you're carry to a centralized hotel, karen teen or get tested every day and then stay there for 2 to 3 weeks. and that doesn't, or make sure that there cannot be any local infections as we see now. but am the government has to stick to they are a recipe of locked downs and mass testing because the only approve fixing the chinese ones don't seem to help um, in terms of protecting from amazon and just to return to the people of she and is there any and to the lockdown of site. yeah. am health experts tell me both from inside china and outside china that and probably the infection cluster will be under control a maximum by february because the restrictions are really very severe. however,

that doesn't mean that am yeah, there will be a lot another local infection cluster, any time soon. okay. did years favlin customer in beijing, thanks so much for that insight. residence in brazil's northeastern state of burg here are surveying the damage after devastating floods. the region was lashed by weeks of heavy rain that has killed at least 24 people and injured many more. hundreds of towns and cities have declared states of emergency and are appealing for aid from the brazilian government and foreign countries. polluted roads burst, dams, devastated homes. the aftermath of 2 months of intense rain in the stated by year is for worse flooding to hip. a region in over 30 years, dozens are dead and tens of thousands displaced. i left everything behind but

allowed up. i'm waiting for the water to go down so i can start clearing my house. now he then surveying the damage for the 1st time. every room here is under water and there's a little that is still dry. for those who at little before is a devastating loss bagging. i've lost everything, fridge, freezer, sofa bed, and every fat go in other parts of the state, the water has already gone. this entire street was once submerged. now the damage caused by the flooding is fully exposed. i only managed to save my television while i got my mattress out, but i won't use it. it's soaking wet. h u, i lost my fridge wardrobe so far, plaza. everything has gone it, residents, he are appealing for aid, clean drinking water, food,

and show to provoke with no where to go. or far it is a struggling to cope with the scale of destruction. the governor by year is calling it for worst disaster in the states history. and we turn to sports now, the head of the pain footballs governing body. you eva has spoken out against to proposal to hold the world cup every 2 years. alexander shaeffer in said a biennial world cup as proposed by fif of president jenny infant. tina would conflict with other events on the international sporting calendar, including the women's world cup and the olympics. south american footballs governing body also opposes the plan. currently, the world cup is held every 4 years as the world ready itself to welcome in the new year, the iconic ringing of big ben and london was tested ahead of celebrations. the clock tower of the houses of parliament had been under restoration for 3 and a half years. the scaffolding was removed just in time for the world famous bell to

perform their bells, i should say to perform their most important duty. london's traditional new year's fireworks and concert have been cancelled due to coven 19 restrictions, but there's no holding back big bens bonds. you of course watching g w. news live of from berlin. i'm nick spicer for or headlines and analysis. remember there's always our website d, w dot com on social media. you'll find us under at d. w. news banks to watch 3 people in trucks injured when trying to flee the city center. more and more

refugees are being turned away.