ah, ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. germany's chancellor lands in washington for crisis hawks on ukraine of shoulds has been criticized for not fully supporting allied efforts to counter rush us to build up on ukraine's borders. he is looking to reassure president biden of germany's result also coming up the canada. as capital ottawa declares a state of emergency as protests against coven, 19 vaccine mandates paralyzed the city. the police chief calls it a siege chinese tennis tar punch way, gives an interview at the beijing olympics,

denying that she accused a communist party boss of sexual assault. but did she speak under duress? and senegal declares as special national holiday today. ah, football bands and the capitol car celebrate after the senegalese team when their 1st average title at the africa cup of nations. ah, i'm see me. so misconduct. glad you could join us a week of urgent diplomacy kicks off today. as european leaders tried to diffuse the crisis over ukraine, french president, a minor one my call will hold talks in moscow with vladimir putin amid fears. russia is preparing to invade at southern neighbour. meanwhile, german chancellor or la sholtes is preparing for talks in the white house seeking to reassure,

present joe biden of germany's reliability as an ally. now schultz has reiterated that military aggression against ukraine would have a high cost for russia, germany, nato allies, including the u. s. are unhappy with berlin's refusal to provide ukraine with defensive weapons, but short threats that the decision is in line with a longstanding german policy on arm sale. the bonus the guild had that for years the german government has followed the clear course of not delivering to crisis owns on not delivering lethal weapon to ukraine. philmont forget that was my predecessors policy. it was right then and remains right by the way. and this is really important to me that the majority of german see it exactly as i do as the government does. and as my predecessor deadening says, he does. but not everyone sees it that way and their voices are very loud at the moment of mine. but my duty to do what in the interest of the german people, and what in this case is also the view the citizens of this country as well as long as, as well as we said it is the start of an intense week of diplomacy over ukraine.

russia attentions thought start with our political correspondent here in berlin. nina has a hi, nina. we've heard the white house say that russia could attack ukraine any day. now . what is the german government threat assessments? ola shirts, the chancellor has said that the situation is indeed very serious and that that's how the german government sees the situation. and germany is foreign minister, an alina babble has called the russian troops on the ukrainian border, a threat recently. but the message that we're still getting from the german government is war can at this point in time, still be avoided and therefore should still be avoided by all means, which is why these next 2 weeks, not just a day, are entirely dedicated to crisis diplomacy. and they're packed weeks, lots of bilateral multi lateral meetings, including with russia at the negotiating table. what about the fact, nina, that germany has gotten a lot of criticism from its allies for not taking a tougher line against russia for not sending defensive weapons to ukraine. what

are the chances that joe biden and all of shorts will find a joint solution on how to approach the crisis? well, many people have criticized all the shots for taking so long to actually make this trip to washington. because it is his 1st trip and he's been in office for 2 months now. so we'll have show, it says that this meeting especially has been very diligently prepared. so you can expect him to have something in the suitcase with him today. what it is we'll find out later today, but so it's, we'll definitely underline again today that germany plays in t nato, so to speak. and president biden, and all of shows will probably agree on saying that all options are on the table as far as possible. sanctions and the joint reaction are concerned if russia were indeed to invade ukraine, but as far as weapons deliveries are concerned, there's probably not going to be a change in position. gemini will not deliver weapons, but what could be on the table? is that our choice? i'm biden, might announce that nature will continue increasing its true presence in the baltic

states. german defense minister has hinted at that, and charles has also said before departing to washington, that he was willing to make decisions. on the other hand, the german foreign minister adelina burbock, she is with her check slovak and austrian counterparts in kiev today. or what can they offer ukraine and then a barack is in kiss and in easton ukraine today and tomorrow. and i didnt, babcock has said before, departure that ukraine sovereignty must not be violated and that she is probably going to stress again today that germany will a continued support of ukraine. what many people don't realize is that germany has been one of ukraine's biggest economic supporters of recent years. and that is a message that the german government is beginning to try and sell more loudly in recent days as well. and the dom government has given almost 2000000000 years to ukraine since 2014. and of course, by going together with a counterparts from other european countries. another in our barrack also wants to

signal to ukrainian leaders the message. the west is standing united. no dividing, that is the message that the german government, including all of shots, are sending in these days of crisis negotiations are political correspondent, nina has a thank you for that insight for we mentioned another, a piece of that flurry of diplomatic action is the french president my nor my call meeting russian president vladimir putin in moscow today. let's go to our correspond jack, paris, who was following the story for us from brussels, hijack we seen the kremlin today. thing we know emma, on my car will share plans with putin to lower tensions. what might that be? what do you think we can expect from this meeting? the $1000000.00 question. right. nice to me. what exactly is micron hoping to get out of this meeting? i think ideally what he would see as an enormous win is if he could persuade the russian president to remove any of the nearly 800130000 troops from that border

with ukraine. that is very unlikely though. and in order to do so, he would have to provide some concessions from the western side. the difficulty for micron is being able to speak for the entirety of the west. because at the moment, france is slightly in a different position to the rest of the european countries. specifically, the bowl takes uncertainty in a different position to the u. s. and the white house micron gave her an interview to french press over the weekend, where he said he understood the needs of russia to defend its security interests. he also said that he doesn't believe that the objective of the russians is to invade ukraine. that's in direct opposition to what we're hearing from the united states and also from nato. the big question is, as i say, what will he offer his potentially going to warn russian president vladimir putin, of the enormous enormity of the sanctions that the west of potentially preparing that could really hit the russian economy. and also he could potentially put on the table some more discussions about arms control,

nucular issues as well. but the thing that the russians really want to hear from the west is a promise that western troops and specifically american troops will be removed from the, from east in europe. and also that there will be promises from nato, that ukraine and georgia would never become nature. members, nato has already ruled that out. it'll be an interesting meeting to watch. our vessels corresponded jack park reporting for us there. thank you very much. and i did have you corresponded mathias berliner is covering the story for us from the region he traveled to the front line in eastern ukraine, near areas controlled by russian back separatists. he sent us this report from the village are fannie pna, the village school of ranita. the last village here on ukrainian control territory is close to the front line. it has come under fire before. now the classrooms empty, not because of the war, but because of new coven restrictions, the war is something people have been living with for 8 years. they will not on

board or push. in fact they did, they began to wire commerce at the time the children go to school the to the speech, but we don't know what will happen in 5 or 10 minutes. she but to morrow. nice a lot. so we're always worried. the car always scared saperstein listed are just a few 100 meters down. this road is the last ukrainian position with who is in the line. the fi of the opposite side. there is a heavy military presence immigrant. a ceasefire is in place, but shelling can sometimes be heard at night. movers, i am cadet corps. yeah. so saturday we already know her sheets and when so we just sit at home because it was worth a few years ago. we always hit in the cellar when there was fighting it. sure,

but that was then the sheleesha took with the key to lovely. but with the latest russian build up, a bigger escalation is on the table again. was completed on the cell when things can't die and we bought a house here for joseph, but now we don't know what will happen deduction. ukrainian territory ends with the last houses of the village. behind a small river lies the demilitarized strip. the pedestrian bridge is the only link to the next village in this so called grey zone was short. the next village is not small. people come here every day to work. and kids go to school. one of the people who crosses the border every day is teach ludmilla car truck. she is from across the river and does not want to give her your name because her life depends on good

relations with both sides. shelling is even more frequent in her village where our boat, the yell was on that of my work is here. i come here every day. yes, it's hard. yes, it's dangerous, very dangerous. well, i can't just quit work and leave. i just can't wait for the lymph. she says she has not yet lost hope that somehow this conflict might come to an end peaceful. now to some other stories making news around the world, the death toll has risen to at least 20 after a cyclone, hit se madagascar, nearly 50000 people have been forced to leave their homes. the storm has brought widespread flooding to the indian ocean island. it's the 2nd storm to hit madagascar in recent weeks. mexican security forces have evicted nearly 400 people from a makeshift camp in the border city of

t one up. it had been occupied for more than a year by migrants trying to reach the us. the camp was formed after the biden administration limited, the cross border flow of migrants due to the pandemic. and australia has announced it is re opening to all fully vaccinated international visitors starting february 21st. the country shut its orders when the pandemic began nearly 2 years ago. since then. entry rules were only relax in november for skilled workers and students. canada's capital city has declared a state of emergency. the mayor of ottawa says a blockade by truck drivers is threatening the safety and security of residents. their protest began after they were told that they needed to get vaccinated to be able to cross the us border. but it has gathered wider support in a country where many are weary of corona virus restrictions o. making themselves heard in canada's capital.

these protesters have paralyzed central ottawa and the cities man has declared a state of emergency. the so called freedom convoy started as a protest by trucking at a new coven 19 vaccine mandate for crossing the border from the u. s. but it's growing into a rallying point against ham demik restrictions. and the government people should be able to make their own choice to take a needle or not take the needle and not lose the job, not lose their house numbers or income. just for the installation. also is mess this actuation on the straits was out of control. as demonstrate as outnumbered police. there are reports of protest as displaying confederate and nazi symbols. we have a serious emergency where we have to put all options on the table and that may include some violence. we want to minimize that. but at the end of the day, the people are not going to leave. we're gonna have to be forced to leave plain and

simple. this cannot go on for months. my says this is causing such havoc and such grief that the movement has gained international support and millions of dollars in donations through its go fund me page. the crowd funding site has now removed the page and said it will refund old donations. many auto residents have said members of the freedom convoy have harassed them and complained of non stop horn blaring. some have staged counter protests. i just have to stand up. i was born just after 2nd world war. i heard that it is like not to be free and they are thing freedom. they're afraid they don't know what it is, not to be frank. about 90 percent of cross boarded truckers and almost 80 percent of canada's population a fully vaccinated. but these loud minority say this,

staying put in till coven 19 restrictions. a lifted chinese tennis star punctuate, has apparently retracted her controversial sexual assault allegations in an interview with western media. previously, pung, had alleged on social media that she had been forced into effects by china's former vice premier. the post was deleted and pung than disappeared from public view for 3 weeks, sparking concerns for her safety. punctual, i spoke to the french sports newspaper. les, keep with a chinese olympic official in the room and said her allegations of sexual assault against a former official of the chinese communist party was an enormous misunderstanding. sexual assault. she is quoted as responding to pre submitted questions. i never said that any one sexually assaulted me in any way before her accusatory post from november, 2nd was scrubbed from her verified account on chinese social media. though,

screenshots were posted on twitter pong writing, that young girl, li, of the all powerful politburo standing committee had forced her to have sex. despite her refusals, she told la, keep that she is the one who erased the post. in addition to the le keep interview, the international olympic committee announced monday that i'll see president thomas bock and others dined with pong on saturday. spokesperson mark adams said the i o. c will not judge whether an investigation on punks. initial allegations is needed. i think we need also to listen to her and we need to for foot to read what she's saying. we've invited to come to europe and we will meet her again. and i think i, i think we can say that we all doing everything we can to make sure that the situation is as it should be at the daily news conference, adams wouldn't say whether iowa c officials believe pong, as speaking freely with them, or under duress, as many experts believe the sports organization are doing everything to ensure that

she is happy. in her interview with like keep hung echoed the chinese government saying her, quote romantic problems. her private life should not be mixed with sport and politics. and we can speak now to journalist fabian, customer in beijing for more on the story. high fabian and punch way is now saying that she never made an out any allegations. how does that actually fit with the allegations that appeared on her social media account? why not at all is she doesn't doubt that she wasn't writing that post. and in that post there's one controversial line that clearly set am i was at least pressure into having sex. some media also em translated as i was being raped. i mean, we could talk about than once as of the translation or what fits better into the context, but the allegations were my air made and, and now it's not really very believable that she retracts everything. she basically says nothing to see here. everything is okay. i deleted the post by myself,

am i didn't disappear? it was an accessible all the time. that is not really in line with the facts and that are really well documented here. have been there have been examples of people have been coerced into making false public statements in a pastor in china under doris. could that be what we're seeing here with bunch way? possibly i don't want to make them any speculation, but it's important to acknowledge that those m con, forced confessions do happen to regularly happen. i also interviewed m several victims and it's a systemic problem here. am i cannot look into the mind of punch. why, but am it's important also to note that she is under pressure. she is most often followed by a government official also when giving those interviews and m of course, it could also be that am, it's her free choice to make those statements. we don't know. i mean, from her way board count the social media platform, we know that she is also quite patriotic and who knows, maybe she regrets m. having made those comments. but that's why an independent

investigation would be quite important or to get to the ground of oh, last question. we know that she met with the chief of the international olympic committee. thomas, that what role is the ios playing and getting to the bottom of this wet thomas boss, plato, quite shameful. roland that already in the beginning of the case, he just basically um yeah. helped her the propaganda approach of seo to get the message out saying that everything is okay. and he is not really credible when it comes to make a critical statement. so yeah, i think his role, it's not very helpful. journals. fabian crafts merch speaking to us there from beijing. thanks for that reporting to another big sports story. now senegal have won the africa cup of nations for the 1st time ever after they beat 7 time champions, egypt and sundays. final, it was a tough start for senegal. at their star sadie money fail to convert a penalty in the 7th minute. the game saw a few chances after that and with neither team able to break the deadlock,

they went all the way to a penalty shoot out. and as fate would have it, it was sadie money who kicked the winning spot and redeemed his earlier miss church senegal. there 1st ever asked con title. let's talk about all of this with laura. i do, we from d. w. sports. looking into the ask on a tournament for us, this is pretty big for synagogue. how. how did they get this or how was this team so good? well then he got the best team on the continent right now. and they are the highest run national in africa and the fee for rankings, and they deserve to win the title of great reward for team that the whole system. what the last 2 years said, your money supported by just is it one more d? now what is, could you buy lee and buy a minute? you know, when i saw, you know, they did what they needed to do. we will do money. that penalty. but he went to school, the winning kick in the shit out, and it's a redemption for the coach. also, i, you see, see,

who is the penalty in 2002, you know, and then 20 years later going on to win the couple of nations for the 1st time for a very talented country of good football us, which is really good for synagogue. yeah, we can see the country really going while they're in those pictures. now the what about egypt here? because we mentioned there 7 time champions. they didn't manage this time. what went wrong for them? well, i will do that. we'll have a cell, i would do the damage for them, but you know, sometimes the pressure can be big, huge on, but he's a good, good player for the big stage. and he came out to he had shot on target. but this is a title he's always wanted to win for egypt. 8th is tied to record extending one, but it's not to be. and unfortunately he's still going to be compared with his compatriots. so someone like mohammed, i will trigger one is 3 times, you know, played at hope, but you know, of what you need to,

to win it in the future. and he would hope that the next, the next time around next to it could happen for him. there were some other under dog stories and thing milestones at this ask on 2022. what stood out to you. i think i like the story of gun the there really, you know, but to get out there country after the elections and it helped them a lot or to, you know, smooth engineers after the elections and the a debutante go get into the quarter finals as well. as commer was, covers, hadn't on likely story. you know, dig do it. they had no chance what you had on the last the and every, all you know, the tiles fell in the india fever for them to which to knock out stage. but also we saw sally mel, cassandra, the 1st woman, 2 of shit i do have couple of nations, which was really good. i spoke to her and it's, it's a really inspiring story that was seen at the african. and so many esther is around the tournament. that makes it one of the best events we've seen in

a long time. certainly an interesting tournament. not about there still celebrating over in seneca with all right, lily at away from d. w. sports. thanks so much. we're bringing the recording now india is observing 2 days of national morning following the death of one of the country's most beloved singers. latin monkish carter passed away at the age of $92.00 after being hospitalized with coven 19 last month. bollywood stars and india's prime minister all paid their respects at her funeral india moines, one of its greatest cultural treasures for decades, laza man guest guards, voice provided the soundtrack to bollywood movies and the lives of her fellow indians. mourners packed the streets for her open air state funeral in her home town of mom, by bollywood superstars rubbing shoulders with the sporting and political elise

to pay their fine respects to a musical icon. prime minister nor end ramadi said he was anguished beyond words by her death, a mighty beach, a lady novel is well, she may not be present physically amongst us. what a voice and love will always be present on melodious voice will always remain with us. i might, as i met with a heavy heart, i pay my respects to nato, but i need it. oh, through her musical talons slauson, my guest guard became known as the queen of melody. and the nightingale of india. her influence was felt across generations. oh

i good because my feet into hardwood fan tango, my mother he's the she thinks been very been so he used to sing and that the among his goes on for them to love i and every day he could not believe that he is normally past my voice that is this full up every indian kid because the youth, such as the armed forces, he thought, is everybody believes that in this country a a guns to lose for latangelo scar as her funeral pyre was. lis, a great artist gone. but her voice and the thousands of recordings she left behind, keeping her flame alive. earlier we spoke to our correspondent medina, child re in delhi, and she told us what latham engaged got. it will be remembered for most and what

are considered her greatest accomplishments. she was known as a new indian, she started singing at a very young age, working at all in the least for to you know, she will reply back in indian movies. we have a lot of song and dance routine. so you can see the of the actors actresses on screen, but the wife behind it. but that'll look on her. she has some cheese and the songs in the month of land with 7 nickie. and then she lent who ways to watch the every leading actors of every generation of the cinema in that period. so in a way the lease is kept changing on the screen with the wife behind them remain sleep. we just have time for reminder of our top story. german chancellor all actually has arrived in washington for talks with us president joe biden. they will discuss the threat of a new russian invasion of ukraine. but charles has repeated his refusal to provide ukraine with defensive weapons. coming up next on d, w,

or show eco, india looks at new strategies to save the environment. thank you for watching the w . ah, with

who living more harmoniously with nature need a spiritual and it guy should it transformation? more and more activists and religious communities are putting nature 1st. the changes how spiritual people in india are channeling their energy to save the planet. ah, eagle india. next on d w. oh,

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