they are peers and rivals, with one dearly goal to outsmart nature for a longer, healthier and fuller life. one of the most insightful discoveries in the history of mankind. more life starts february 16th on d, w. ah ah ah, this is dw news, a y, but from berlin, a diplomatic frenzy to avoid war on europe's eastern border. french president and manuel micron lands in berlin holdings crisis talked with ukrainian president of

the lord of mirrors, lensky in care for grants. as he expects the crisis to de escalate, after meeting russian, president putin in moscow. also coming up on the show, former pope of benedict asked forgiveness for his handling of sex abuse cases. in a letter he acknowledges, mistakes were made, but denies any personal wrongdoing. ah, hello, i'm claire richardson. thank so much for joining us. friends, president manuel, my crohn has touched down in berlin to complete another day of high level high stakes diplomacy. aimed at finding a solution to rising tensions between russia and the west or home will meet with german chancellor, olaf, sholtes, and polish president on j. duda. the french president says, he's carrying assurances from bottom, your putin, that russia will not further escalate the ukraine crisis. it's been

a busy 24 hours for wild leaders as they engage in a diplomatic push to, to resolve the crisis on ukraine's boulders and puts following a meeting with ukrainian lead of law to meet zalinski on tuesday president emanuel micron called for further dialogue show up on the i believe that we have concrete, practical solutions that will allow us to move forward. we have had the opportunity to discuss this together. i have also had the opportunity to discuss this with president putin. as i have done with my european partners and several of our allies on monday, micron visited moscow to meet with russian president vladimir putin. the kremlin denied reports that putin told micron. russia would not further rump up military tensions, and would pull troops out to bela bruce later this month. he libido april out in

washington. the new german chancellor. ola sholtes had his 1st face to face meeting with president biden. but it wasn't all cosy fireside chats as the leaders doubled down on their warnings to russia. despite the parent differences over the nod stream to gas pipeline. germany's foreign minister on a line of bare bach visited east in ukraine on tuesday. she said there could be no military solution to russia's aggression backing kiev president. the lense gate said he expects more. john talks to take place, but as more us troops are sent to europe, eastern borders, a still hoped that a diplomatic solution can be found. in earlier, i spoke to our correspondence nick connelly inches, who followed the press conference with president, micron and zalinski for us. and i asked him what the 2 leaders have agreed on.

while the atmospherics were definitely better than expected, they seemed fairly cordial. while another, the main take away is that they expect to hold a leader's summit in the circle of normandy format. that's russia. ukraine with germany and france as the mediators. the last one was in late december 2019 since then they would not be able to make any process any progress. rather, i was there back in person 2019. and since then, the same game has been going on with ukraine and russia accusing other side of not making the 3 steps either side, wanting the other to make compromises 1st, no real sign that that is going to happen anytime soon. in case you crane that would probably take a lot of western pressure to force ukraine into doing those things. it doesn't want to do that's holding elections in easton ukraine without really controlling a tertiary allowing russia to take influence on that em. i think for now that might not postpone these current tensions, but it doesn't resolve the issue. this is a question of timing. i think i'm on a macro. wanted to push these are difficult talks to beyond the french election.

and it seems like an attempt just to win time. did you correspond at nick carly there for us? and we can take a look at some of the other stories that are making headlines at this hour. there have been heated scenes in the slovak, in parliament, with opposition lawmakers staging a protest against a controversial new military treaty between broadest lava and washington bumble. the agreement will see the us expand its military presence in the country which borders ukraine. indirect talks between iran and the u. s. aimed at reviving the iran 2015 nuclear deal of resumed negotiators met after a 10 day break in discussions. delegates say the talks have made limited progress since they resumed in november, and a number of vital issues remain unresolved. the when is warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis in madagascar are afraid cycling tor across the country over the weekend killing at least 21 people. tens of thousands more have been displaced from their homes and asked for was already really tropical storm

kills 55 people. late last month a former pope benedict has asked forgiveness for his handling of clergy sex abuse cases in the catholic church. however benedict and denied any personal or specific wrong doing an independent report released in january said that benedict had failed to act against cleric in 4 cases of alleged abuses during his time is unix archbishop between 19771980 2 of the request for forgiveness was made in a letter published by the vatican and read out by the former pope's spokesperson, comic brilliant country, unquote, own abode or post. so soloist, but i can only agree to all the victims of sexual abuse. my profound shame pro fond of her go near me on my sorrow and my heart felt requesting for forgiveness that adorned with dog around the i've had great responsibilities in the catholic church

than to if you get older grades, my pain, the abuses and the errors that occurred in those different places during the time of my mandate spit the role. let's go to martinez gac dw religious affairs analyst in berlin for more on this story. we've just heard of that apology from the pope, but he's not accepting responsibility for decades of alleged abuse and misconduct as outlined in that independent report. will that be enough for victims, families? well, i think it's safe to say that no, they will not be enough. and you know what, i mean, if you look across the web, you're ready or seeing the, the reactions to what is considered to be just the usual, the full approach of the church to new revelations. you know, i mean, i think that big tens victims groups had been essentially complaining about repeated apologies with very little progress in establishing establishing new

policies and basically reforms that can protect redress crime committed and protects potential victims. and this really doesn't go anywhere near, you know, fulfilling dose dose needs. and those demands of benedict has also commented on accusations that he lied about participating in a meeting about transferring a priest alleged to have abused children here in germany. what can you tell us about that? well, the report mentions, at least for cases of what you know in the press conference was referred to as misconduct by, by the former pope or the married us both. so this is not something that obviously we can, we can say much about it because it's something that it's contained, illegal report, and it's essentially in the hands of prosecutors office. so, i mean, this is something that, you know, the justice justice, german justice that will have to, will have to decide what is quite clear is that,

you know, we thing learn wittingly. the pope did bennett a did lie, or at least mischaracterized how much he knew about the case and the cases in the report a particularly for cases. and then once that the report was released and there was a rebuke off the bulb saying that he knew nothing about this case or that had actually not been part of one meeting or another. then he was actually forced to retract those those comments. so the fact is that there is no solid evidence that he failed to reveal something that he actually did know about this case. and with that in mind, if the catholic church is looking to win back public trust, what steps need to be taken to fully address abuses? there is been, you know, an increasing the man from the victims groups. and i think that legal scholars and people, different groups, among them,

legal scholars and academics that had been sort of working through questions of church reform, had been pointing to which is making the reporting of suspicions or the reporting of crimes mandatory to national authorities. the church, of course, has resisted this and there are still several bales of secrecy over the protocol, particularly confessional level. so the confession is protected by secrecy. and these are things that i think at this point becomes quite clear that the church not being able to police itself would mean that national authorities would have to take, you know, these kind of steps more seriously and into serious consideration. martin gac dw religious affairs analyst in berlin. thanks so much for that analysis. we'll debate over whether to impose mandatory vaccination against coven 19 have royal europe. but in the calmer, with islands in the indian ocean, a national vaccine mandate is already in place. people there don't have a choice. presidential decree to vaccinate is being enforced by the military. was

it on these southern africa correspondent agent trish traveled to the commerce islands, capital maroni, to find out how the measure is being carried out and what people think of it's a military police check point the cast cans pass without develop cova vaccination certificates the jap against the corona virus is mandatory for all adults on the cameras islands. so i think we already had lot of time for sensibility zation. so now we are not forcing people, but to we just we just and freon for them to go and vaccinate. critics of president, azalia sumani, call his rule of the critic he issued the vaccine mandate in december by presidential decree. have you forgot your vaccination cards? you are allowed to ask a friend or family member to bring it's here, then it will be controlled. if you haven't been vaccinated though all your late for

your 2nd zap, you will have to pay a fine hand. he will be brought directly to the vaccination center. in this case, they were brought to the military police hospital around the corner. 58 people were vaccinated. the morning we filmed whether they wanted the jap or not mckesson and much if i could get more confused. so of exam on dog bite for personally, i don't totally trust the vaccines. we shouldn't be forced to get vaccinated. vaccination should be debated among the general public in the commerce. we need to consent to be vaccinated and not be forced like this, like animals on the 2nd like sheep or cows where human beings, we have rights when they deserve, when it does, you know in the door. yeah. yeah. not in the countries biggest hospital, dr. abraham job yet defended the strict measures. he is one of the coordinators of the national cove campaign. what are such and testable needed to? it's a good idea to make vaccination. obligatory senior people aren't respecting covered

regulations like social distancing. vaccination people is the only way we can save lives. and this is proven by the statistics issue from ramon to less than 40 covert patients are currently hospitalized on the cameras. islands dr. job be assess. none of them are vaccinated. the country is using china sino farm vaccination and it's nationwide campaign. several studies suggests 2 doses of the vaccine are less effective against the omicron variance doctor job. you reject the idea. poverty is not, not true. there is proof for somebody. so there was no point arguing about it to me . we had more than $3000.00 positive cases around the country during the last wave, with less than 10 deaths. to be back at the check point, the majority of those passing through have had their jets. it is virtually impossible to do anything on the camaros islands. otherwise, a coven vaccination certificate is needed to enter banks, school,

and government buildings, and even to take the bus through the winter olympics in beijing now, where records continue to tumble on the snow and on the ice. o, rounder esther, let us go who competes in both snowboarding and skiing, was among the medalists on tuesday. after becoming the 1st woman in history to win gold into different sports, at the same olympics and pounds, chang in 2018. the czech republic as discuss, successfully defended the 1st of her 2 titles. she returned to the top of the podium winning gold in the snowboard parallel giant slalom figure skater. nathan chan had a disastrous olympics in 2018, but he came out with the dominant and near flawless performance this time around his routine set, a new world record high score for the event. he currently sits in 1st place going into the metal rounds. ah austria,

as mathias meyer became the 1st man to ever win an alpine ski and gold metal at 3 consecutive olympics myers place 1st and the men super g event adding to the gold medals he won. and so she and piano chung, he raced down the hill in just under one minute 20 winning by 400 of his 2nd. and reminder of the top story we're following for you. friend, president emmanuel mac one has arrived in berlin for holding talks and to you when you're pregnant, president, a lot of there's a lensky over tensions with russia. i mean, and comes a day after my ron sat down with russian president vladimir putin in moscow. as he believed there would be no further escalation in the conflict holding his visit. richardson thank so much for joining us. for a week interest. the global economy our

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