ah, ah ah ah ah, this is dw news lie from berlin, a diplomatic frenzy to avoid war on europe eastern border. frances president emanuel not called bribes, and the ukrainian capital key of for prices, talks with the president low to mid lensky,

following his meeting in moscow with russian president, putin. nicole says the coming days will be decisive in finding a solution. meanwhile, germany united states, our close friends, reliable partners and we can count on one of the strong pledge of solidarity during german chancellor, olaf shows his 1st visit to the white house. president biden dispels any doubts about berlin's reliability as natal partner. also coming up at the beijing winter olympics, one of the big stars of the games, u. s. foreign eileen, good plains, gold for china in the sky. big air with a breathtaking trick that she'd never completed before and rebuilding from the ashes people affected by last year's volcanic eruption on the spanish island of hallmark planned to build back batter. ah,

i'm so me. so misconduct. glad you could join us. diplomatic efforts are intensifying as world leaders attempt to deescalate the crisis around russia's troop build up on its border with ukraine, french president manuel. my call is now in kia, where he's holding talks with ukrainian president vladimir zalinski as fears of a possible russian invasion mount. the meeting comes after my call, sat down with russian president vladimir putin. oscar on monday, but con said he believed there would be no further escalation in the conflict following that visit with putin. and let's go right. the key of we have our corresponded nick calmly standing by frost, following those talks forth today. hi, nick of tell us what has been happening, what you've been hearing, because we understand that mccoy has been talking about that visit to with the flooding report. and yesterday, while it quite this is an extorting meeting, the 2 ladies spent more than 5 hours together. and there was a press conference in the grand m kremlin palace press,

which is considerable different distance from the leaders because of co restrictions. but this considerable confusion about what actually was agreed upon. there was signals coming from the french camp that behind closed doors, some kind of grand deal to at least reduce the risk an escalation, next few months had been cut. what exactly the terms would be, how that would play out, wasn't clear. and in social media ran that story. and just in the last hour, we've heard the criminal spokesperson coming out and denying that some agreement has been reached. that escalation, for now is on the table. so seemingly quite a big difference in takeaway between what the french thought they'd agreed with or achieved with russians. and what vladimir putin saw them offering him. i think there was kids to expectation at this meeting because france had been a lot more careful in terms of its rhetoric. had been a lot more clear about wishing to em offer russia security guarantees and a lot less m outspoken in its support for ukraine. ukraine sovereignty than say,

the united states, the u. k, and lots of eastern european countries. so some sense that, that michael could play that role of the mediate between the us and russia over this issue. but again, for all the meetings, all the aspect, get the virgil tardy and what she has been agreed on. yes. what do you think that messaging means for my cons meeting today with low miss zalinski? what i me care of here has seen an extraordinary marathon diplomacy in the last week. we've had breast prime minister. we had the german foreign minister yesterday for the german chance the coming next week. so extraordinary amounts of to magic energy being put into this. i think the basic line here in care of is fear that france is willing to do some kind of deal at ukraine's expense to and banished the prospect of war and escalation. in this part of the world, we heard from the french am circles yesterday about finland ization of ukraine. what that means is that ukraine would somehow be guaranteed its sovereignty at the

price of not being able to join western structures. nature with you as was the case during the cold war when finland wasn't part of the direct soviet sir influence, but wasn't allowed to join in the western clubs had a lot of so influence over its decision making. that obviously is a red line for ukraine. something they are very scared over people. him ukraine will say we tried to in the ninety's, ukraine, had nuclear weapons, gave those up in return for written guarantees of sovereignty from the americans from the brits and the russians. and then back in 2014, the russians disavowed that and annex crimea and can supporting separatist niece and ukraine. so the line here and ukraine is that this country is too important. it's too central in europe and has too many people to just be given, soccer neutral status and are forbidden from making its own decisions about who ella's with. yeah, like i want to ask you more about the people there in kiev with a flurry of diplomatic activity. how, how the people there been reacting? well, it's pretty extremely, we've had weeks of in special attention ukraine being on the top can headlines

around the world. most people seem to be blocking it out and focusing on their daily lives rather than engage in those headlines. and we have spoken people living in mary pole in east of ukraine, near that front line with persian separatists and asked them how they feel about the whole situation. let's have a look about her. she was somebody if intensive for 8 years already, may be another peak of tensions now. but that's nothing new here. and she'll know as always familiar with. i think everything will be fine. we have a lot of military stationed here by new york with though there's no way i can just released her yet. that's not possible. i don't have the funds, the economy, his dia, a i, i think those are pretty characteristic of things you've been hearing for a long time hearing ukraine, but that is slowly starting to change. there's a sense that this is no longer just another escalation of the kind. we've seen several times since russia and it's crimea back in 2014. that this is generally

more of a big deal that russia is not going to de escalate in return for some kind of western diplomatic guarantees. and you hear stories of people am withdrawing money from banks. make sure they have foreign currency in small donations, in case they lead to leave delaying decisions about their lives. saying i'm not going to take a mortgage, buy a house because who knows what will happen this country in there a year or 5 years time. and i think that is the biggest takeaway, whatever happens during this escalation, if wars averted, which hopefully it will be, but that uncertainty prevents people from really believing in ukraine's future in their ability to plan their own lives. and that is something that disables people, paralyzes them. and really keeps this country back from developing des, nick connelly reporting for us there. and here, thank you so much after his visit to ukraine, amount on my call is due in the german capital berlin. later today, where he will hold talks with chance r. o le shots and poland president j duda, chancellor sholtes for his part is returning from

a meeting at the white house with us presidential by the 2 leaders pledged to work together in the ukraine crisis, with biden brushing aside any doubts about berlin's reliability. as a nato partner, germany is one of america's closest allies. it was a welcome to german chancellor of shawls at the white house in a show of unity, the 2 leaders met to discuss the situation in and around ukraine boy, but a key sticking point. turn that talks remained north strain to the pipeline, built to transport gas from russia on to the baltic sea to germany. the u. s. a poses the project and expects germany to take a clara stance on it. i'm at the ongoing crisis. schoultz was reassuring, but state vague, we will be united, we will act together, and we will take all the necessary steps and all the necessary steps will be done,

but all of us together. meanwhile, biden was very clear about the notion reg, nordstrom t would go north stream, to go forward with an invasion by the russians, which is not going to happen. the pressure is now on germany to sharpen it stands. we can get some perspective on this story now with so there david will she is a senior trans atlantic fellow and deputy director of the german marshall funds berlin office. i so that's good to see you. i will ask you about this meeting we saw between joe biden and olaf shoulds. if there was an overarching message, it was that we stand united. we stand together. how convincing do you think that message was good to see you to so me. i think that joe biden definitely had the back of chancellor all off shelves because he's had a very hard couple of weeks. he's had a hard time turning around the narrative that germany is not a reliable ally,

or it's sort of the weakest link in the trans atlantic relationship. so this trip to washington was really done to regain credibility and also to assure joe biden and the white house that he and his government is a lock step with the united states when it comes to the conflict in ukraine. and i think he has to do a number of things which he did do. he emphasized that germany is the largest donor to ukraine. the defense ministry just announce that it's going to send an additional $350.00 troops, which was already planned. but there accelerating the time table to lithuania, to the eastern flank of nato and coordinate was allies on strong economic sanctions . nordstrom's to was still left a little vague, but that could be 2 choices advantage as well. yeah, but if you look at the details of what was said, they were asked by a few reporters about what is on the table. if russia does invade ukraine again, why do you think they were so vague about the sanctions that would be implemented? i mean, it could have been on that olaf schoultz was looking to sort of please

a domestic audience that he still didn't want to necessarily put nord stream out there right away and looks at it as the point of leverage, especially since he's also due to be in moscow next week, but at the end of the day, i think the message was very clear from president bite. and he said that nordstrom, too, would not go forward if there was a further incursions to ukraine territory. and because of shoals is response, i don't, i can't imagine that the pipeline would go forward. instead, it would be dead on arrival. if russia takes another aggressive move at the border, you mentioned some domestic pressure, ferla fuels. what do you make of the fact that he couldn't even mentioned the word the nord stream to well, there are a lot of splits within his party. still, there are many a speedy members that see russia as a country that needs to that needs to have, you know, we have to have dialogue with this country. and they see economic cooperation as

a way to open up russia. but i think this belief or this value system is a thing of the past, this idea of vondell door handle or change through trade because of russia's aggressive moods. ukraine is clearly the victim here. and don't forget that this vondell through handle idea happened under the backdrop of deterrence. something that germany is still very shy to move forward with in terms of sending lethal weapons to ukraine. overall, do you think chancellor sholtes did enough to convince germany's allies that his country can be counted on as a defense partner? you know, i think there will be certain people that are not convinced by his messaging in washington. but what counts is that president biden stood alongside him during the press conference and said that germany is a reliable ally. that was very clear. so he has his back,

but now it's up to germany to deliver. if there is an aggressive move on the part of russia, will germany act in coordination with the united states? will there be any hesitation? will germany be a partner to the united states when it comes to also confronting china? these are all questions that are on the table, and it will now be in germany's court to react. so the david well, senior trans atlantic fellow and deputy director of the german marshall funds berlin office. good to talk to you now, to some other headline from around the world, at least 8 people have been killed in a bus crash in mexico. the long distance bus overturned after hitting a stationary truck on a highway south west of the resort city of conklin. among those reported killed our mexican, german and french nationals police in the canadian capital ottawa have seized thousands of leaders of fuel as part of

a push to end protests against corona virus vaccine mandates. truckers and other drivers have jammed traffic in the city center for 10 days. prime minister justin trudeau who just recovered from the virus, has denounced a demonstration saying they must stop. in the us, members of congress, held a moment of silence to mark the country's 900000 deaths from cove at 19. the usaa suffered more fatalities from the koran of ours pandemic, than any other country afloat and remove. here in germany, health minister carlotta back as warning that the wave of corona virus infection sweeping the country has not peak yet, and it is too early to roll back social restrictions. new cases are still near record levels. under current measures, unvaccinated people are barred from many public spaces, and there are limits on the number of people allowed a gatherings. some germans have demonstrated against the restrictions, but many of germany's european neighbors have already lifted. pandemic curves, ws berliners. what they think of the government should do so thought louise

restrictions immediately. we can't take it any more. it's not going to get any better even if we don't loosen restrictions. vanessa snohomish. oh we aren't yet where we want to be regarding the number of vaccinated people. ha ha, cousin on getting cove it isn't that bad any more? them all, but i don't think we should ease restrictions yet. i was really massage and they should leave it to the scientists staring things up on the topic, especially by the media has only led to general confusion. i mean, then we'll tiger men of heavily thinking on when we shouldn't ease up yet. we are at the point where it's very important to persevere and to all pull together and protect each other, even if it's hard to see on the screen. that is to shut off and strap it. we have our political correspondent, julia, so deli, with us for more on this story. hi julia. we mentioned that some other european

countries have started to relax some corona virus measures. why is germany still so reluctant to do so? health minister carl out about her said that germany has so far weathered the current corona virus wave a quite well. and he said that is due to the current restrictions that are still in place. but that the situation is not completely under control. he said germany is particularly vulnerable at the moment because of the old age of the population and because of the hot, relatively high rate of unvaccinated people among that older population. that means that loosening restrictions right now would be too soon. lauterbach said that he expects restrictions to be eased significantly before easter, which is in mid april, but that if that were to happen soon, if restrictions were to be loose. and now that would only make the current corona virus wave longer and that it would be harmful for germany. there is also some controversy over the government aim to introduce

a vaccine mandate for certain professions. tell us more about that. yes, the mandate is meant to come into force in mid march, and it would mean that health care workers, people who work in a care facilities and who are in contact with vulnerable patients would have to be vaccinated to be able to work. and until now, all the leaders of germany, 16 states who are responsible for the implementation of this mandate, have all been on board. until recently of the sate premier of bavaria, marco suda, who is also part of the conservative opposition, has said that he will not implement this mandate. and there have been growing calls, especially on the conservative side to not go forward with this mandate, country wide. and the concerns site, a worry that qualified professionals would a leave and that there would be an x x of this of qualified professionals. and that

it would be a difficult mandate to implement. the health minister lauterbach responded by saying that he finds this message problematic, and that it sends the wrong signal. he said that this mandate is not meant to be a harassment for health care workers, but that it's meant to protect the most vulnerable patients. and he hopes that a solution can be found to actually implement the mandate, which he thinks is essential for germany. right now. are political correspondent, julia. so deli, thank you. you're watching d. w still to come rebuilding from the ashes. people affected by laughter is volcanic eruption on the spanish island of la palmer plan to build back better. one of china's most promising winter sports stars has taken her 1st gold at the beijing olympics with a breathtaking free style ski jump that she'd never completed before in competition

or practice. american born eileen goose took 1st place for her adoptive country in the 1st effort. freestyle sky, big air, competition at the olympic games are winning. move involved, spinning 4 and a half times mid air. the 18 year old only recently began representing china and has found plenty of new admirers in her adoptive country since making that switch. she has though, been criticized by some us media for her decision. years a closer look. now, one of the big stars of these winter games i lean, who is one of the best known winter olympians in china, despite the fact that she was born and raised in the usa. she's one of the home nation's most promising medal hopes at the 2022 games grew. is among the many foreign born athletes competing to please a new set of supporters in beijing hired for sure. it's not to be ruled out that they will, may be looking for a platform that's bigger and brings them more personal benefits of yamaha.

this also proves that china's spoofs and commercial environment real quick is superior to the united states. sure your, your make well 18 year old girl represented the u. s. at major events before adopting her mother's home country for competition back in 2019. she's become a star of team china, which features more foreign born recruits this time around than at any previous olympics. how much they represent china and they bring glory to our country. i think it's an honor to bring glory towel motherland. no matter which nationality, you are as long as you bring glory for our country. you are our friend who has become an icon of winter sports in china already. and her games off fall from over off the sky began. she'll go for gold again in this slope,

style and half pipe disciplines. d w sports correspond, jonathan crane is in beijing and he watched goods run. a spoke to her after her feet and told us all about a very special day for china out the game. i think it's fair to say the chinese fans absolutely love eileen. she really is the golden girl of the spacing olympics and she really didn't disappoint them today. in the big competition, she was trailing, going into the final run and needed to pull something special out. the bag and see more than to live at landing a job that she never even tried before. much to the delight of a few 100 chinese friends watching. now afterwards, do told us that she speaks to her mother before her runs and she was told by her mother phone try anything risky, don't do it. just be happy with the silver meadow. and she said, no, i'm be showing that she went and did it. and then she's got her 1st goal of this competition. she has 2 more chances to win gold medals and these and then pick

games. but at the moment she says he's just going to soak up the moment, enjoy the med around her neck and focus on wants to come a bit later. austria's mathias meyer became the 1st man ever to win an alpine skiing gold metal at 3 consecutive olympic eggs. meyer placed 1st in the men's super g event, adding to gold medals in sochi in 2014 and in john chang. 4 years ago, he raced down the hill and just under one minute 20 winning by just for hundreds of a 2nd. and a one football item for you synagogue victorious football team was treated to a hero's welcome when it landed back in the capital the car a day after waiting the africa cup of nations. for the 1st time, ah, tens of thousands of fans flooded the streets to celebrate the historic victory and

president mackey. sol declared monday of public holiday. cynical beat egypt for 2 on penalties and the final in cameroon, after match ended nil nil. now a month long volcanic eruption on spain's atlantic island of la, paloma last year, devastated homes and villages in the lava path. several 1000 people were displaced by the common b, a. her option. des nicole reese reports on the challenges and opportunities as islanders begin to rebuild their lives. noises of trucks removing tons of ashes are breaking through the quiet in last manchester cleanup works and full swing after the historic eruption of the committee. vehicle volcano, also on the roof of this bar. i benefited the ida. we wanted to open again in 10 days, but that's impossible because there is no motor way any more and distances have

become longer with homer for suppliers. it's challenging if there is no running water, there's also no garbage collection. so now we hope that we can open in 15 to 20 days. they have already moved around 2000 residents have come back to the areas that were most affected by the wrapped in ethical. but if you have okay, now they will have to repair a lot. but they still have a home. hasa garritano lost everything then we carsa lead them into my house is literally a few kilometers from here under the lava april, but i couldn't tell you exactly where any more. it's as if this were just one big black desert hero. it's impressive. just impressive. now the architect lives in a flat. despite his plight, he is eager to rebuild the village of told, okay, below the lava all buildings have been dea located. they could be built in their former location and may even be built with 2nd mate from the ashes of the comedy

via ha cassiano, acres of everything that we could build on the lava could be ecological and sustainable. i also think there could be a protected natural area for the lava lauer. a big part of it could stay alongside what was once the village of today. okay, call me or what's now the new village of to decay. in this case, we all know why the withdrawal can if the cancer but this new top okay, is still a dream at the moment. the love that you can see here, right behind me is partly still hot. scientists have measured temperatures of up to 200 degrees celsius in there, and that's not all. the volcano is still producing gases. and this means sometimes there is the smell of rotten eggs in the air that sulfur dioxide. so the authorities also need to be aware of the air quality here, because if it gets very bad, they need to evacuate people from the affected areas. and these factors can also

intervene with the current works to free one of the islands main roads, from lava and rocks. it will take years for this area of the island to recover. the government is planning dense, a housing now that there is less space building on the lava is not possible for now . hasa garritano knows that, but the pol meadows like him, are eager to move on and restore la palmer's identity. did have used nicole reese reporting there. let's get a reminder now of our top stories. french president demo on mccoy's in t f for talks with ukrainian president volota, mr. lensky over tensions with russia. that meeting comes a day after mccall sat down with russian president vladimir putin in moscow. he said he believed there would be no further escalation and the conflict following that visit. and german chancellor, olaf shoulds has pledged

a united response. after talks with us president joe biden, who said there were no doubts about berlin's reliability as a natal partner. later sholtes, we'll discuss you. praying with the leaders of france and poland in berlin. coming up next on d w. our bonus league a show kick off has all of the highlights from matt, stay 21. and of course you get the latest news and information around the clock on our website. that's d w dot com or follow us on twitter at the w news. thanks for watching with ah,

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a pulse with the beginning of a story that moves us and takes us along for the ride. it's all about the perspective. culture information this is dw and d w. made for mines a fairy tale me in china, the winter olympic gains in beijing are set to be a big hit. no matter the cost. here our excitement is our government's main focus and surveillance is keeping tabs on inside china. beijing, contra, her seo. close up. in 60 minutes on d, w o,

a, the battle against covey, and the only common variant is putting health care systems around the world to test vaccination campaigns or accelerating while restrictions are intensifying. once again. but are these measures enough to stop the spread of omicron fax data and reports with glee cope with 19 spell every thursday on d w. who han in china is considered ground 0 of the global corona virus pandemic. but a german geneticist may have debunked this theory. he tr.