[000:00:00;00] ah, ah ah, this is dw news lie from berlin. the german government calls roches decision to ban this network budget valid unacceptable. russia has also closed down the w moscow bureau and revoked accreditation for all our reporters. there. it follows germany's decision to ban german language programming off russia state broadcast plus russia and china signal closer ties ahead. vladimir putin arrives in bay jane for the

start of the winter olympics and for talks with g as in paying as they are countries increasingly aligned foreign policy and us hours to go until the games begin. human rights concerns have overshadows the, the run up, but organizers pledge to stay out of politics as left, some athletes on the uneasy and bashed night operation took a major terrorist theater off to battleship. president joe biden says the leader of his la mc state group blew himself up as us special forces approached during a raid in northwest ah, i'm gabelle. as welcome to the program, the german government has condemned moscow's decision to shut down the russian operations of this program thought developed. germany is foreign ministry said that

is north put us you renewed strain on german. russian relations authorities have closed down the ws office in moscow revoked the accreditations for all our journalists that and banned dw broadcasts in russia. as of today, it's being seen as a tit for tat move. german media regulators had banned the german language programming of russia state broadcast r t the day before because it doesn't have a broadcasting license for germany. deutsch velez moscow office has to close by order of the russian government. the decision came after germany's media regulators banned german language programming of russia's state media broadcaster r t for operating without a gym and broadcasting license d w's director general pete, a limb book called the russian government's decision, a disappointment, and

a total over reaction. this is another sign that russia is not interested in. the russian government is not interested in press freedom and freedom of opinion, but i can only say um, even if we have to leave the country, we will intensify reporting on the country. so i think this must be also clear to the russian side that we will not just ignore what's happening. russia, we will report and we will do more and more for the team at d. w's moscow studio. losing their press accreditation in russia takes a more personal toll. yup. that effect correspondence produces camera, men, editors, and so on. according to russian law, they are now no longer allowed to work for the traveler. and let me say, when a personal note for me personally and for people who support our coverage from russia, this is a big shocker. i've been at the bureau chief and correspondent fungi chivera. he in moscow for 7 years. and like all my colleagues, i have loved to reporting from russia even more. we all wore our and we will stay

passing that are passionate fans of rush, marashi i dont necessarily mean russian politics but the people of this great country for now d, w is weighing its options and considering possible legal avenues. our quick editorial note here, we'd like to stress the statement from our moscow. a bureau chief uria, russia to in that report was recorded yesterday february 3rd. and for more on this story, i'm are joined by my colleague serena phillip over in banos, the editor of the w's a russia service. irina was this band by russian authorities to be expected. well, it clearly came as a huge shock for all of us. we clearly expected some measures after our tea. deer was banned in germany, but we never expected that these retaliatory measures by the russian authorities will be so hard. we never expected that our musk a studio would be closed and that all our colleagues working russia would lose

their accreditation. so the answer is yes, the meters were expected, but no, they were not expected to be so high. this, the state of the freedom of the press has become increasingly difficult in russia, not just for the w, but what can you tell us about press freedom in russia? the state of the press freedom in russia has drastically deteriorated. over the last years. there's been a huge clem down by the russian authorities on that independent media. many of them have been put on the list of foreign agents, meaning that they are subject to to an extra government scrutiny. and they also have to brand marg themselves at foreign lamp. as for an agent, i mean, any time that they publish something in russia and clearly that has been a huge, a huge step to deter 8 of the freedom of breast in russia. are right now,

they're over 100 media outlets and independent journalist on this list at the moment. and according to the statement by the foreign, a foreign ministry, russia, which was published yesterday, the russian authorities might also consider to put a note to villa on this, at least a foreign agents. and so it is all unclear which is going to happen. so what's gonna be happening next, especially with regard to our coverage and oh, colleagues there, what are you hearing? well, there are many questions that still remain open, like many technical legal questions. what do we know for sure that our mosque a studio is not allowed to be operating anymore? it had to be close starting 9 am today. and all our colleagues working in moscow have to return their breasts, accreditation cards, and foreign ministry. these are the accreditation cards that allow them to work as journalists in russia. so that means that none of our colleagues in russia allowed to work is journalist over there. and there has been a have been

a lot of voices of independent journalist organizations journalism. la bergen is ations in germany, calling for their government in germany to provide a clear. and i mistake about am set and reaction to these drastic meters by the russian authorities. and it is very much expected that chancellor of charlotte, which is going to travel to russia within the next few days, is going to bring this issue ab gearing, his talks with redeemer putin. whether this conversation will bring anything, whether what it is talks will bring in a thing concerning our moscow to do. it remains unclear. he does not feel at over in bon, talking to us. so thank you. you're welcome. a rush us ban of the w comes as german chancellor. all of charlotte's prepare as a trip to moscow for talks about the crisis in ukraine. sholtes coal, to build up of russian troops on ukraine's board. a very serious and said, any invasion would come with consequences. john chancellor has been on the pressure

from all the natal members to take a haga line on russia. that's good. more on this now from our chief political correspond melinda crane. melinda. another issue not added to shoals agenda in moscow. wat has the government been saying so far? the german federal minister for culture and media. claudia hote, criticized, did the decision quite emphatically yesterday saying it was wholly acceptable and that russia had drawn a false equivalence between russia today in germany and deutsch avella. and she went on to say, and i quote d, w is an independent organization that means that unlike russia today, the german state does not exert any influence over its program. and germany's foreign ministry also said that moscow's measures had no basis whatsoever represented a another strain on german russian relations. and they too firmly rejected this

comparison between d, w and r t. and as you know, d, w is a public interest broadcaster financed by taxpayer funds, but in no way answerable to the german government. whereas russia today is a state broadcast or in fact, foreign minister barbara, the german foreign minister, had conveyed that message to are russia counterpart when she visited moscow in january. saying that because of the central role that the state media played during the nazi era german law benz licensing aid, unofficial state broadcaster the all this comes at a time with german russian, russian relations really not very good rod. absolutely. even before the latest tensions over ukraine tension had been building and there's a long list, starting with a major cyber attack on the bonus talk in 2015, which was proved to have originated with russian hackers. also cyber attacks on

leading german politicians. and then in 2019, we saw the murder of attraction, national accused by the russian government of having a been involved in violence. he was murdered in broad daylight in overland park. and again, that was proven to have been coordinated by russian security services. and then of course, there was the poisoning of alex say, no volunteer. he was treated here in a berlin hospital. and as you know, when he returned to russia, he was immediately arrested for in parole. violation accused of not taking part in the required meeting, when in fact he was here in a german hospital. so all of that has already complicated german russian relations . and now we do have the greatest tensions over ukraine, including whether germany is willing to step back from the pipeline project that it had. the government has been defending as a private endeavor for some years now. but many of germany's allies say it needs to

be on the table as a package in part of the package of sanctions. which also shows a, has been a number of nato partners to take a tougher line on russia. there's a perception that the chance those only been in office for a couple of months has been sitting on the fence. is that likely to change? i think we are seeing some movement. we're certainly seeing it from the foreign ministry. foreign minister paradox said last week, very clearly that germany is working together with other partners on a tough package of sanctions. and everything's on the table including that gas pipeline stream to the chancellor has been somewhat more equivocal in his own statements. but he recently did say that, in fact, it is crucial to coordinate with european partners, and that it would have a very high price, indeed, were russia to move ahead with aggression. and as you know, he's not only set to visit moscow,

but beforehand also to visit washington. and i think it's pretty clear that germany has gotten the message about what's expected, melinda, kind of actually, political correspondence. thank you. melinda. united states says it has evidence that russia is preparing a false flag operation to justify an invasion of ukraine. official said moscow was producing a video that portrays a fabricated ukrainian attack on russians. now we can say that the united states has information that russia is planning to stage, fabricated, attacks by ukrainian military or intelligence forces as a pretext for a further invasion of ukraine. one possible, often the russians are considering and which we made public today involves the production of a propaganda video. a video with graphic scenes of false explosions, depicting court corpses, crisis actors opinion to be mortars and images of destroy locations, or military equipment,

entirely fabricate fabricated by russian intelligence. as tensions are growing between moscow in the west, over the crisis in eastern europe, russia's president vladimir putin as headed to friendly ground in china, put in his in beijing. 4 talks with his chinese counterpart, agent ping. it's the chinese presidents, 1st face to face meeting with a world leader in 2 years. the pair will lay to attend the opening ceremony of the winter olympic gang las lucy shutes at grosvenor. a journalist 5 am catch ma is in a beijing following. the 2 leaders meeting fabi and managing this relationship is crucial to both leaders. how good is it right now? where you can argue that the bilateral relationship between the 2 countries is as good as it has never been before. and that also includes the soviet times and politically they need each other in their antagonism against the west there, but also both oppose an expansion of the nato and not only politically also economy

economically they have and she had interests, for example, china is arising economy and very energy hungry and russia, hester, oil and gas supplies for china, or vice versa. china can invest in russia and also has the technology to sell to russia. but if you look at the number than at least from the view from aging, it's clear that russia is a junior partner, m, often g, d, p per capita, china has now exceeded russia. and yet, russia's economy is much more depending on china than it is the other way around. and so all i is currently on the, the raw, the tense situation on the russian ukrainian border. tell us more about china stance in this conflict where china officially once a peaceful solution, and yet they oppose anything that could endanger the stability, the social stability, but, and they are clearly loyal to russia and for them. it's also,

and the conflict provides valuable insights for one of their own m. conflict. namely the taiwan conflict. of course, m is the 2 issues are quite a separate and different, but there are some parallels. and for example, if russia would invade ukraine than of course, for china, it's really valuable and to see how much would the west oppose what, what is the reaction and they can use it as a technical information in the way how they would deal with taiwan. a lot of speculation that russian military planning may be affected by the olympics. how important is maintaining an olympic truce if you will, to china? where for china, it's a very important mean. the leadership has waited a long time to present itself. here as a, as a rising nation, as a world power to the international stage, they want basically propagate their message and then a rate of, and they don't want anything to interfere with that. be it an escalation ukraine, but also be

a military provocation by north korea. so it's very important and if putting would indeed invade ukraine drink olympics, that was would be quite disrespectful against the leadership in beijing far. we have had mother in a beijing talking to us. thank you from you now, just hours away from the opening ceremony of the winter olympics spot, the corona virus pandemic isn't the only issue looming over these games. china's human rights abuses are also in the spotlight. oh, with less than 24 hours until the games officially open the political clubs over beijing showed no signs of clearing. despite the repeated efforts of, i will see president thomas, but to resist what he views as the instrumental ization of the olympics pct. danger greeks knew that if

a games would be used for what would come between those that the political tensions which were high at the time between a sponsor and their things and then others, he for the games would not be considered to be neutral. they would not have her as a wife to therefore 1000 years with australian open spectators were accused last month by china of politicizing sport. after tennis fans handed out whereas pangs whitey shirts back to confirm that he will meet the chinese tennis star who disappeared from public life in november after she accused the high ranking communist party official of sexual assault. thanks, wiley, to retracted that allegation, that there are concerns he may have done. so under duress it's a necessity to, to respect her and then to listen to her and how she

sees her, the situation, how she wants to work to live her life. china's treatment of weaker muslims here, and she's young province, has prompted countries like the u. s. and the u. k. to stage a diplomatic boycott of the beijing games, asked for comment back sighted his know politics pledge their position or for the the i you see her must be given the or political or neutrality of that. or we are not her commenting on her political, her issues. ready as the curtain rises on a beach in olympics, surrounded by political intrigue backs, insistence that they be kept out of the games remains unwavering. well, johnny me now from beijing is our correspondent jonathan crane from the w sports. jonathan, i use the president thomas bock lab was asked some pretty tough questions at that

press conference. what did you make of his answers or tell his back was clearly opinions to reiterate the iris he starts that is a politically neutral organization. indeed, the question of whether a sports and politics should mix was the central theme of the press conference. so the, i a see the answer is clearly no. but when bach was asked specifically about the weakest and their oppression that no comment felt especially jarring. now human rights groups have urged athletes to use that platform at these games to speak up on such issues. i asked bach whether he could guarantee athletes safety for them to do this. here in china, he avoided answering that instead made some bizarre comparison about athlete protests and an actor playing hamlet on the stage. but athletes, i actually allowed to express themselves at certain times in the places at the olympics, just not during their events or during metro ceremonies, or they were there any of them will for you feel brave enough to do so given the

climate here remains to be seen the math or the chinese tennis player pangs why was also discussed what did the have to say about that? yeah, lots of questions about puncture. try another issue, any casting a shadow after these over these games? now let's remember that the i c has already held several discussions with pung try, bach was involved in one of them. the i see is pushing the sta, quiet diplomacy tactic. they've been criticized to that when you compare how from some of the women's tennis. tor reacted by putting tournaments out of china and demanding an investigation. bach was asked whether the i a c would all say seek an investigation. and he said, if he wants to have an inquiry, we would support her in this other trucks. another question for the i see is given her position to they feel she would be able to demand that herself. doesn't you only away into the opening ceremony in a short while?

what can we look forward to when that goes on the way? well, i think it's really an interesting opening ceremony, but the issues surrounding the games aren't gonna go away anytime soon. and it's not just about human rights and it's not just about punish why we've got environmental concerns. we've got the korean virus and questions that were whether the game should actually be taking place a tool, some human rights groups of called this the genocide games. in fact, the united states government refers to genocide when they talk about the weakest. and she jang provinces, for that reason, the u. s. and some other western countries, according to boy caught the opening ceremony. as we've already heard though, russia's ludovic putin is here. and 3rd, saudi arabia ma, had been solomon. china will want to use the opening ceremony to show off its culture and its history. and i quote, his willingness to perceive world peace. now this opening ceremony is going to be

directed by the same person who directed the spectacular ceremony in 2008 at the summer olympics. so we can expect something perhaps, equally spectacular to night. least something to look forward to. don't cry, they're in bay jane. thank you jonathan. you're welcome. let's have a quick look now. and some of the other store is making headlines to day. british prime minister boris johnson has lost 4 more key aids as his popularity plummets over lockdown parties. johnson's chief of staff is private secretary and his communications direct to have all resigned and his policy units chief manny ramirez . i quit over johnson's controversial comments on monday when he attacked opposition. labor leader. he has tama, you become a community of west african states. equal was as asked, the regime that seized power and booking

a fossil last week to propose an election time tape. the group held an emergency summit and gone, asked capitol a cry to discuss measures against booking a fossil, as well as what the group called a dangerous trend of military power grabs in the regions. both pro and anti abortion activists south protested in ecuador capital kito, outside the national assembly inside lawmakers were debating a new bill, which could allow abortion in all cases of rape. previously, permission was limited to certain circumstances. a debate comes after recent ruling by the countries that constitutional court united states is calling the death of the leader of the so called islamic state, a milestone in the fight against the group. president joe biden said, hardly abdulla blew himself up during a us special forces rate in syria, 13 others, including women and children, were killed the operation. but it is not yet fully clear. on the what circumstances,

the raid follows growing concerned that i asked maybe trying to regroup in the region. a collapsed roof and a dead terrorist leader. the result of a us special forces rate in the pre dawn hours on thursday morning in assyrian village near the turkish border. avo abraham a shimmy al karachi reportedly blew himself up as about 2 dozen troops, back by air support moved in on a house. he was in karachi, was considered the head of so called islamic state. he took over the terrorist group when his predecessor died, much the same way in 2019 u. s. president joe biden told reporters after the raid that the group, while smaller than a few years ago, is still dangerous. he referred to karachi by his other name hush abdulla isis as director terrorist operations targeting americans. our allies and our partners had

countless civilians in the middle east, africa, and in south asia. hodge, abdullah oversaw the spread of isis affiliated terrors groups around the world after savaging communities. murder reduces us officials say the operation biden ordered, took weeks to plan. it happened to mid growing concerns that i asked may be trying to regroup. in january i s attack to prison in ne, syria, in an effort to free it's fighters held there. it took days for us back kurdish forces to retake the prison, killing hundreds, and the process with no americans were harmed in the overnight raid on alcaraz. she's home despite an exchange of gunfire, and one helicopter making a forced landing due to mechanical issues. at least 13 other people, including other fighters, women and children, were killed as well. u. s. officials attribute the deaths to al karate his own bomb

. they said they chose to risk putting boots on the ground rather than an air strike to avoid civilian casualties. the u. s. military has been under pressure to review its targeted strikes, some of which have killed more civilians than initially reported. i'm finally the dutch city of rotterdam. that's europe's busiest port. as given the green light to dismantle a historic bridge. for a very wealthy customer, the bridge will be temporarily taken apart so that an oversized york, under construction nearby can pass through on its way to the north sea. the vessel which is 127 meters long and 40 meters high, is set to become the world's biggest sailing yours. when it's launched later this year, it's believed to have been commissioned by none other than the amazon found a jeff bezos. one of the world's richest people. what city w news he has to remind off the top story we're following for you. the german

government has condemned russia's decision to ban dodge a valid russia said it was shots are in d. w as moscow bureau offset berlin ban to german language programming off russian state, both broadcast a r t due to its lack of a license that's it from me and the news team from now don't go away. up next global 3 thousands of globalization program. i'm proud of is in berlin. thanks for watching.

with you. i fax. most of the water, at least for one year, they're experiencing some with there's plenty of sea water, but desalination is energy intensive and expensive. at burling base to start out shows us. it doesn't have to be this way, global 3000 next on d,

w. in important question, following a sudden cancer diagnosis, which treatment and drugs are most effective? cancer research is in full swing in and what are the benefits of the new cancer drugs and what risks do they come with? the business of hope mm. in 45 minutes on d w. ah, hello guys. this is the 77 percent. the platform for africa to be beat issues and share ideas. you know, or this channel,

we are not afraid to happen delicate this topic. african population is growing fast . and young people clearly have the solutions, the future loans for the 77 percent. now every weekend on d w ah, ah, welcome to global 3000 new life in the step villages in tanzania, a replanting forests, and encouraging the reins to return precious and scarce. in many regions of the