[000:00:00;00] ah ah, this is the w news coming to live from berlin. the diplomatic push to diffuse, the ukraine crisis moved to berlin. the leaders of france, germany and poland say they are united in the resolved to prevent war and call on russia to engage in meaningful dialogue. also coming up, security forces in canada, struggle to contain a protest by truckers and ottawa against the government to anti cobit measures. the demonstrators are blocking the busiest land,

crossing into the united states. and pollution from plastics is damaging our oceans and the life they sustain. so why are we ramping up production of such a harmful material? plus, he is one of germany's most important contemporary artists. as god later turns 90, we look at what makes his work so unique. find out what he's doing today. ah. hello and jerry martin, thanks for joining us. world leaders are making a diplomatic push to resolve the crisis in ukraine as russia masses. troops on the countries borders, french president emanuel my call, visited his ukrainian counterpart after holding extensive talks with putin in moscow, where he had characterized which he characterized as positive. poland and germany's leaders joined my call in what they called

a united stance to keep the peace in europe in the face of the crisis. listen to some of the main messages here. once i can find them, a common goal is to prevent a war in europe. and the deployments of russian troops on the ball with ukraine is very worrying. and our assessment here is very much the same as is our position as does it. and to mama, 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've also had the opportunity to discuss this with president putin. as i have done with my european partners and several of our allies, if you lose it for more, let's bring in, bruno touch her. here he is the deputy director of the foundation for strategic research. that's a french independent thank tank. thanks for being with us for an a multiple diplomatic initiatives are on their way to resolve the russia ukraine crisis. would you say that france under

a manuel mac hong is now the main player in leading those efforts for europe. well not to maintain clearly medical sada. he needed to take the initiative. i think he does madison to survey that he will be the only leader and talking to ms. christina lansky was clearly his initiative, which is to be followed by chance was charles later in a few days as a tribute to some kind of did somebody commands him. so i would say he's been leading away, but he certainly, and not beyond the a european leader who is going to play your important role in trying to solve this crisis. she say momentum is now building in these diplomatic efforts. president con claims he received assurances from president putin that a d escalation in the russia crane crisis is possible. now russia has been down talk of progress. what's your reading of the outcome of mr. mcclellan's shuttle diplomacy this week?

well, 2 things. first of all, there's a value in diplomacy in itself, meeting face to face a leader as my horse on and as charles will do for 456 hours and has value in itself because it allows leaders to gauge each other and know each other's attention. i'm not saying that my whole looks into, but in sol as former president bush, one said that there is a value in itself in the meat, in the long meeting phase. for, there's a, there's a war for community case, and that's a class. you would anticipate russia saying something like, of course we made no commitments whatsoever. well, i say latency, of course, correct to say that rash as promised to who was driving forces from bell rats after the a sciences and i going to take place in the coming days and then it would be very simple to, to her, to clarify ok, present a con, made reference though, to concrete,

practical solutions for the ukraine crisis and for addressing rushes security concerns. what exactly do you think he's talking about there? he's talking about 2 different things. you see there are 2 separate tries to both france, germany, colon and the united states and others are trying to rule. there's one try, which is circle normandy format, which is about the implementation of the minster agreements about the future of ukraine and countries. credit as been successful in rejuvenating a format, which everybody thought back in november. that was, that was pretty much just the 1st right. the other tribe is the more broader discussion on the circle secuity architecture in europe and this about alms control . this is about confidence and security building measures, and that's discussion is obviously also taking place of the u. s. ration level at the nato, russia level, but there's

a european input in that discussion. and that's what i was referring to, is that in us issues the crisis, what do i know in advance? what um the super disciplines are and new, but he knows what they are. not even sure that the semi colon does not know much more as he returns to paris. just briefly, do you see a crew coherent strategy for shaping the european security architecture between europe, the u. s. and nato in a way that would satisfy russia? well, the 1st of us in the answers, your question is yes, there's a good here and strategies. and despite what many come to the taste say, ah, europe and the united states, france, germany, and the usaa pre much on the same page here. there are nuances, of course, but i don't see any significant divergence opinion or friends who are choices regarding these issues. and that's what really matters is there's

a unity of europe and there's a unit here at the west high b nuances. now, do we saying that we can produce options and solutions that are acceptable, those to us and to mr. grant in? unfortunately, i don't think so on the swear returns comes into play, because evenly, if mr. brewton does not as yet. and he had decided to, to, to embark in a major military operation ukraine. we had to deter him to discourage him from thinking he could achieve meaningful military results without suffering. extraordinary severe analyses, bruno to tear deputy director of the foundation for strategic research. thank you very much for talking with us and you know, all eyes may be on ukraine at the moment, but other people in the region fear they might be. next, the baltic states of lithuania, latvia, and estonia share borders with russia. 2 of the 3 also border bell roost rushes

close ally the baltics were once part of the soviet union, but are now nato members. the alliance for station 1200 troops on lithuanian territory. germany provides half of those nato soldiers and his pledge to send another 350 next week. but with tensions running high, many lithuanian civilians are preparing to defend themselves. it's a freezing cold weekend morning, but for these lithuanian civilians, leisure time is more like boot camp. they want to be ready to defend their country . took the men crew. there are doctors, architects, artists, musicians, and managers like me. will they need training. they all need to know how to move as a combat unit, how to use weapons and how to survive on the battlefield. point. if we're late again color, go galler lithuania, shes a border with kremlin aligned belarus and with russia itself,

the giant regional power. the crisis in ukraine is making people here. nervous is thought in a story, doesn't end with the un nato. what has happened in this region over many centuries is not over. our enemies have not changed and we must be vigilant with the wooden. monsieur am good as much with you. i feel under threat. i want to be prepared and to know what to do. if tea day comes with them. and we have to defend ourselves for that. they are determined ready to fight. and unpaid lithuania, as defense, ministry only covers organisational costs. o, c, o. c, of the most difficult in russia, wants to secure supremacy over its neighbors. and it's using highly aggressive tactics. ukraine is the 1st on its radar, but others will follow. so good luck with it. at the worst you there below,

under chairman command nater treats have been stationed in lithuania since mid 2017 as a deterrent against russia. but germany's hesitant stance in the ukraine crisis has provoked criticism, including here in lithuania, era math development, but canada gear we live in a region where russia keeps nuclear muscle, sir, that russia has li, tactical, short range missiles, miller error, and germany refuses to draw a red line at the sack on the bridge road on the linear o civilians preparing for the worst for these lithuanians, a war in their country is a very real possibility sketch up on some other stories making headlines around the world. today. indirect talks between iran in the united states seemed at reviving the 2015 iran nuclear deal have restarted in vienna. after a break of just over week,

officials say the talk serv made significant progress under president trump, the u. s. unilaterally withdrew from the packed in 2018 firefighters in oklahoma city. in the us are battling a massive glazed at a construction site. the cities fire department said the fire was in an unfinished hotel or apartment complex, and parts of the building had collapsed. no injuries have been reported. at least 14 people have been killed in dozens more injured in a landslide in columbia. the incident followed heavy rains in a mountainous region of the center in the center of the country rescue teams. se they feared new months lives could follow. and former hope benedict has asked victims of sexual abuse in the catholic church for forgiveness. but he denied any personal or specific wrong doing. an independent report released in january, said that benedict had failed to act against clergy members and 4 cases of alleged

abuse. canadian prime minister just intruder has bowed to bring an end to a trucker protest against pandemic restrictions. now in its 2nd week, protests have gripped canada and paralyzed parts of the capitol, ottawa, bringing the business district to a standstill and blocking the busiest border. crossing with the u. s. ottawa. police are requesting backup from across the country as they struggle to contain the truckers almost 2 weeks into their seat in these protest is brush off another frozen auto a morning. each day the hundreds had camped out truckers and joined by support is the movement that began in response to a vaccine mandate has grown into a catch old anti government sentiment. the truck has say they're staying put in till they get back what they call their freedom power. did i mean are you to continue to the protest? while if you take a shot of my drug,

you'll see my tires are off. so what does that tell you? auto residents have faced harassment, and there are reports of hate speech. after a court order stopped, the protest is from constant honking. the truck has began revving their engines instead, filling the air with diesel fumes. police say they have slowly started to regain control of central ottawa seizing fuel supplies in an emergency parliament debate. prime minister justin trudeau defended the government's pandemic response. we've been working with provincial premiers right across the country to bring in the kinds of restrictions. the kinds of mandates that have saved canadians lives. everyone is sick and tired of walk downs of the measures we have to do of the sacrifices we've had to make. but canadians have continued to step up over the past 2 years. been there for each other, been there to get vaccinated,

more than 80 percent of adults are fully vaccinated and has been broad support for government measurements. but sympathy has grown for the protesters as canadians tie of restrictions. rallies have sprung up around the country in solidarity. protesters have partially blocked the busiest border. crossing the 43 year old with born with an illness called fraser syndrome and had a kidney transplant cove. 19 poses an acute danger to his life. every time he leaves the house, he takes a risk a foot. imagine upon, i'd always have to be lucky. the virus only has to be lucky once gotten wiser. if i then think about the hospitals which are filling up the fact that i can't be properly cared for, can't be visited for what if i get seriously ill, all these are thoughts that go through my head. he, i'm done great and coffee and not her lake. the corona virus vaccinations are not

having their full effect on him since his transplant. lars fisher has been taking immunosuppressive medication every day to prevent his body from rejecting the oregon by says even after the 1st few vaccinations i have very, very few antibody. and only the ones that don't protect you from now i've had 4 doses and i'm still waiting for the results. but i'm afraid it still doesn't look very good and i'm getting 1st a test as my normally some bizarre, unethical garcia. lars fisher knows that compared to many other people with disabilities, he has made it through the pandemic relatively well so far. this is also due to his profession. he is a science journalist with a focus on infectious diseases. he have been able to put a specialist knowledge about infectious diseases to good use over the last 2 years

. as i all nevada and they all said, it was also an incredibly exciting time for me professionally. i know because i was one of the very few journalists in germany really knew something about pandemic. and that was something that gave me strength that ultimately also carried me along the mic. no, not that makes it. and if you're talking hot lars fisher expects to get infected with cove at 19, at some point. but he hopes that by then a drug will be available to treat him well. is a look at some other developments in the current of iris pandemic. the world health organization is calling on wealthy countries to fill a 23000000000 dollar funding gap to help poorer countries fight the run a virus. the w. h o says unequal access to tests, treatments, vaccines, and protective equipment risks prolonging the pandemic on kong says it's recorded its 1st possible cove. it linked death in 5 months. despite a 0 covered policy,

the city has reported hundreds of new infections in recent days, and the u. s. state of new york will drop it's in door mask mandate for most public places. starting wednesday, the new york times reports the states governor intends to let the mandate expire rather than renew it. the paper said, world leaders, scientists and major companies are gathering in france to boost efforts to protect the oceans. over the next 2 days, the one ocean summit in the northern city abreast will seek to raise the international communities ambitions to protect c life and tackle the impact of climate change. another major issue is on the agenda, is the threat to the ocean's posed by plastic pollution. as we report, plastics take millennia to decompose yet their production is at an all time high. it's on the surface and deep down on the sea floor. plastic waste

is found throughout our oceans. a recent study reveals that more than half the world sea turtles and as many as 90 percent of all sebra swallowing, many creatures get tangled up in it and die. and se researchers, this classic pollution has grown exponentially. linguists as august i think is our biggest concern is that there's no end in sight to this crisis. and we know that plastic production is going to rise steeply over the next 40 years. we know that investments have already been made and increasing plastic production capacity. and we also know that once it's in the system, once it's in nature, it can't be retrieved again. that's because plastic 1st breaks down into smaller pieces, then into micro and nano particles in science warren, that even if no more plastic were to enter the oceans from now on, the amount of micro plastic within them would still double in the next 30 years.

many countries so have insufficient waste management systems. it needs to be a priority for politicians to put a fuel production volumes need to be limited. plastic must be used in ways where this is dora bell as possible and it needs to be reused as much as possible. we need a circular economy and we need it globally. the united nations environment assemblies meeting in a row be at the end of february. one key issue will be whether countries can agree on an international plastics plan. now to the beijing winter olympics and snow warnings, biggest star sean white, the american has to they qualified for the half pipe final and pursuit of a for gold medal. there were some early struggles for the 35 year old, but he made it through the announced in the run up to beijing that he would retire after the games. he's competing at his 5th winter lives. max merrill from d. w. sports is here to talk about it,

so snowboard star shawn white, he's back in action today at the olympics in beijing. his final olympic games. what do you think his chances are max of winning, another olympic metal is certainly one of the favorites. but you know, his qualification was very shaky in his 1st run, the only school 24 out of a 100 points after we took a full and he needed a really big 2nd run to make it into that final top 12 to qualify for the gold medal competition and he was at risk of crashing out with along with the alpine skia mikaela. schiffron is compatriot who's in her 1st 2 events both times and not been able to qualify. and she's the one of the biggest stars in the games like he is we can see him here in his practice footage, the kind of tricks he pulls out. and in his 2nd run, he managed to land a really a really good run. 86 points out of a 100, then he's over twice as old as some of his competitors here. age. 351 his 1st gold medal and sharon way back in 2006 as a teenager. and then one gold medals and every olympics since then except the so

she, when he finished forth and he still this really big draw, there was a big crowd, not just fans, lots of volunteers, other athletes and team members coming to watch him. and he is going to have a struggle in the competition for the gold medal because the top qualify human herano of japan school to 93 in his 2nd run the to time silver metals definitely at medalists. some are definitely someone to watch out for. and why is the only snowball to ever, to school at to 100 perfect schools so he can always pull it out of his back, but he's got competition. ok, the starboard of and of course, is a very fun event to watch, very entertaining. but there's a lot going on at the olympics that we don't know about. a number of scandals have been reported. sporting scandals, i understand tells mothers yet just now there's a developing story where metal ceremony in the team figure skating has been delayed because the russia team who technically of one the gold metal it's being held back to you to quote an emerging legal issue at there are some rumors about that being a drug test with one of the competitors,

those unconfirmed. we'll keep an eye on that for sure. and 5 women were also disqualified just a few hours ago due to their suits in the ski jump. they were deemed too big and didn't comply with regulations of regulations, of really strict down to what underwear you can. where are you? where you, where the seems on the suit at germany's kathrina outhouse was one of the disqualified women in the 1st ever mixed ski jump. and she says, this is how you destroy nations development and an entire sport big blow for her. and the speeds gazing. also, some scandals. the koreans are going to the court of arbitration of sport and a chinese skate. it was caught on film, sliding a market into the skate of a canadian competitor during the race wasn't penalize very, very controversial. just briefly, max sir coded, is it a big problem at these olympics? well, so far we've had over a 150 athletes and team officials test positive. there was some strange moments already. we had the rush, a candidate women's ice, hockey match, ad delayed for an hour, then they played with s p 2 mosques,

because the russian team had not yet had their coven results received. as so very strange there and the conditions and also the food and the isolation facilities have been heavily criticized by athletes. we really feel like it's not just the way they're being treated when they test positive. so definitely stuff to work on for the organizes that. thanks. thanks so much. max merrill from d. w. sports well, solid olympic feet, but turning 9 years old is quite a victory in the span of human life. i. german painter got up late or celebrates that milestone to day. warm between the 2 world wars who studied art in east germany than fled to the west where he was a driving force and the post war art. seen his work span from abstract. the photo realism, often with subjects aimed to provoke. a few artists have explored the myriad possibilities of painting as thoroughly as the multi talented gough hardly stocked

his expansive approach to art has made him one of the most important contemporary german artists. krista has been influenced by both pop art and photo realism and his trademark is that he's constantly changed his style. in 2015, his work abstract painting, 599, sold for $46300000.00. setting a record for a work by a contemporary artist as the food services, i always feel like it's nothing just shoddy work. but on the other hand, oh, that's better than the others. yeah, definitely. yeah. or something like that. ah, christos body of work is marked by disruption. he 1st gained fame in the 1960s with photo realistic paintings. part of an art movement called capitalist realism. he painted blurred reproductions of newspaper photos. this via the tides one. at the time, the assumption was that painting had become irrelevant, superfluous, on these outside, and during that period,

he succeeded in asserting the importance of painting over photography by their portal golf. he sabatino vista, has repeatedly used his art to penetrate the heart of german society. he has sparked public debate as with his series depicting red army faction, terrorists, or with his beer, can now cycle an abstract rendering of the horrors of now to them. mister hutton, as is to my, my main interest. as in painting i have a certain freedom doing what i want to. ready god to crush us as painting as a form of thinking. for 5 decades he made abstract art. his squeaky paintings from the 1980s are especially in demand. fetching astronomical prices on the art market, but at least has withdrawn from public life since 2019 and stopped creating large format, oil paintings due to its physical demands. now at 90 years old god placed our has devoted himself entirely to drawing the oscar

nominations for the 94th academy awards have been announced, and netflix is dark western. the power of the dog directed by jane campion is leading the field with 12 nominations, including one for best picture. it's followed closely by the sy fi, epic dune which receive 10 nominations, and is also in the running for the best picture bribes. what did you see? you're watching d. w news from berlin up next. it's eco, india. and of course you'll find all the latest news information anytime you want on our website at

d w dot com. i'm terry martin. thanks for watching. with

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