for life starts to june, 16th on d, w ah ah, this is deed of the news live from berlin, germany reelect, it's president incumbent. frank walter, sean my. when's a 2nd term with the backing of the governing coalition? in his acceptance speech, he said he would fight for democracy also on the program, living with the threat of war, ukrainians, riley for unity in the face of russian aggression. their president, appeals for com is western nations, warn and invasion may be imminent. ah,

unexpired. welcome to the program, german president frank walters. john myers has been re elected for a 2nd 5 year term. 66 year old social democrat and former foreign minister received more than 2 thirds of the votes cast by an electoral assembly. made up of politicians, civil society figures, and celebrities shine minor had the support of all 3 parties of germany governing coalition. nominally the head of steam roll the president is largely ceremonial in german politics. but in his acceptance speech dimer urged germany and its allies to do everything to prevent war in europe. the lack of war on our continent, ladies and gentlemen, is something we have become used to protect it by friends at peace with our

neighbors for over 30 years unified again. what a joy this has been for our country. but in recent days and weeks, we have learned once again what we should have known, we cannot take peace for granted. peace must be worked for your little one in a dialogue. but where necessary with clear words with deterrence. joining forces together, ladies and gentlemen, and that's what we need now. and for more on this, i'm joining the studio by d. w. chief political correspondent, melinda crane. and nina hazard, who is at the parliament buildings in downtown berlin. nina, shy mar, was re elected with a large majority, but were there any surprises? well, in terms of election results and there were a few minor surprises, of course, of fun fight. i sign my being re elected was not a big surprise after all,

he did have the backing of all the parties that are involved in the current government coalition. so the stds, the greens and the if the piece, but also he got the support of from the conservatives from a homely angle on michael's parting of the glitch. massive party. and that gave him a solid majority, got more than a 1000 votes. now 1400 or more than 1400 votes were up for grabs. what was interesting though, in terms of results, and i'm sure that we'll get to the details of his speech later. but just in terms of results was that the candidate who had been nominated by the free voters, the only woman in the race, she got more votes than many people had expected z m would have only got some 36 am, but she made it more than 50 and also the candidate who is appointed by the far right a f d party that had been the most controversial candidacy. max auto, who is a member of the conservatives. he got far fewer votes then, and the amount of

a 50 votes would have been ok. what are some interesting and so as i'm trying to, melissa melinda crane, know about the speech. i mean, that was a pretty interesting speech. and it sort of ventured into foreign policy quite a bit, was it was the president breaking the mold somewhat. he was breaking them or perhaps with the clarity of his messages on foreign policy. but actually his unifying theme was democracy. he started up by saying, if you are fighting to preserve democracy, i'm on your side. and the office of the presidency in germany actually was created to stabilize the than the young german democracy. so this is a traditional theme for many presidents, but it's been especially strong theme for him also in his 1st term in office. so his messages on the external threats to democracy essentially were all addressed to russia. and president putin with stein myers, saying very clearly,

russia is responsible for the current threat, also to direct appeals to putting, saying president putin do not underestimate the strength of democracies and president putin. and i think this certainly was the most headline worthy probably of these messages. loosen the news around the throat of ukraine. and he pointed out that that threat is not only to ukraine but also to other easter neighbors. and in fact, his 1st foreign trip, this coming week will be to latvia, one of the baltic. republics that does feel threatened, but he went on to join that theme with the threats to democracy at home. talking about the fact that both the pandemic and also the transformational process we're seeing as germany moves away from fossil fuels, to new energy systems, to a more green economy. that these are sources of pain and division within the society. and he talked about how he wants to be

a president who listens to those who are fearful about the future, who listen to their concerns, and that he would make his 1st domestic trip to eastern germany. where many people do feel that the future is less secure. perhaps than the past. ok, and i'll just go back to, to, to, to nina if i may, who's there at the bonus tag for us? can you tell us a little bit more about how the day unfolded? understand voting was, i mean we watch it live is bit tricky with the pen that make it's not in the usual place. there were celebrities and so on. what more can it tell us? well yeah, i report from the bundle tag on a very regular basis. and to day was very different from our user reporting, of course, one, because the federal convention is such a unique body. it only gets together once every 5 years and it's sole purpose is to elect the demo president. now the federal convention is made up of all the members of parliament here, and all the parties get the same amount of votes that they can then essentially

hand to people from all walks of life from representatives of society who they think is stand for their own values and so we've had a very colorful, a very and diverse mix of people here and gone to sack today that were rappers that were football superstars. uncle immacule, the former chancellor was here, it's a very different and you see it's a day where gemini celebrates its democracy. now we all famously em are not the kind of nation that puts too much glamour into its democratic processes. but at the federal convention meeting is usually one such day where we celebrate democracy with symbols and rituals. but because of anti cove rules that are still in place, there was a lot of focus on keeping your distance from each other. and also from everybody had to get tested, who came in here and also when they played to national anthem, you weren't allowed to sing, but you were allowed to hum. yeah, and i'll note in passing that while it was all about frank volter,

starlight seemed like everybody wanted us healthy with anglo merkel, political correspondent, in a house at the bonus tag there for us. and melinda craner, chief, political correspondent here in the studio. thanks so much. the latest diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in ukraine have so far failed to ease tensions. on saturday, the united states and russian president spoke for an hour on the phone afterward. joe biden, warren, that russia will face what he called swift and severe consequent cost. rather, if it invades ukraine, vladimir putin has dismissed american warnings is what he calls hysteria. meanwhile, ukrainians have rallied to support their government, which is calling for calm, even as many foreign nationals leave the country. a shoe of unity and ukraine's capital. the brave faces here though belie growing fears about her rush, an attack on their country. what are we afraid would probably yes,

i feel the anxiety inside me like others are already plotting their escape. if i'm yes, we will try to re with them to prepare all documents and making plans for their children to with ukrainian forces training near the black sea. these are been warfare exercises, hence the kind of unrest they are preparing for. presidents lensky, however, called for com hedge, to prevail. the best friend for enemies that is benny in our country. and all this information details only for fanny doesn't help us during an hour long phone call on saturday. you as president joe biden warned vladimir putin

of swift and severe costs. if russia does invade, perkins team accused the u. s. of unprecedented hysteria. the u. s. is taught diplomat antennae blink, and also spoke with his russian counterpart on our call for minister lover off said the tub russians are working on a response to the paper that we sent to moscow. more than 2 weeks ago, proposing concrete areas for discussion. it remains to be seen if they'll fall through on that, but if they do, we'll be ready to engage on sunday contingency plans turned real u. s. staff at the organization for security and economic cooperation based in the rebel held city of dawn nets were packing up and heading home. just the latest group to decide that the risk of all i war is now too great.

and for more in the situation, we're going to go live now, did he to abuse nick connelly and keith ah, nick, president biden. and president mccomb than both called vladimir putin yesterday. what are the people and politicians saying about those talks where you are to the expect anything i think the expectations are fairly low. i think you have to remember that key of has seen the unprecedented flurry of diplomatic activity in recent weeks. seems like barely a day goes past without the president or prime minister, turning up here so much so that volume zalinski had to reschedule a leaders because he just can't fit them all into his schedule. and asking reports, leave the dutch premise to come a day later, so he could meet maurice johnson. so i think the average ukraine's and even lots of policy makers here are not following this blow by blow. but it's just too much. i think the big takeaway from yesterday was a comment we heard from a criminal adviser saying that putin had complained to joe biden, that the west was not doing enough to pressure you crane into fulfilling the peace process. the deal on that. a 7 year conflict in easton ukraine in the way that

russia sees it in the way the rush would like it. somebody ukraine thinks would basically mean a permanent russian veto on ukraine sovereignty. so complaints there from russia, but no sense that this is going anywhere in a hurry. so western leaders who may be coming to care, but they're telling their nationals in the country to leave the country in those departures. worry ordinary ukrainians. i think they really do, and i think that's a news yesterday that the u. s. embassy was drawing down most of its staff. some staff being moved to western ukraine, close to the borders with the you and nature that really cut through in a way that headlines of the past few weeks. haven't. we've seen the u. s. and been unprecedented fashion release intelligence data, talking about russia's plans for false flag operations or other operations that might be stable as you crane and create a pretext for some kind of intervention that all kind of went over the heads of lots people who basically would tell you that this was just another blip. another escalation of the kind they'd seen time and time again over the last few years. but

i think that sent to people packing up their bags, leaving the country, trying to get on flights. certain airlines already canceling flights from key of over security grounds that really has worried people up till now we're trying to get on with alex. okay. he'd have used nick connelly reporting for us from ukrainian capital key if and it's time for sports now to the beijing winter olympics, where heavy snowfall led to some delays to sunday program for the floors did not stop. swift skier, marco odor matt and norwegian by athlete star martyr. all spool royce land from adding to their country's halls. switzerland, now both 3 alpine skiing gold that the beijing winter olympics after marco older mat power to victory in the men's giant slalom. he led after the 1st room and hung on to triumph seconds. i'm around. it was the 24 year olds, 1st olympic gold near perfect shooting for marta osborne roy salons. help the norwegian pick up her 3rd gold in beijing alone. she

easily won the bye, after on 10 kilometer pursuits, a hard slog in snowy conditions was all too much for some of her rivals. the women's mano, bob competition, made it to lim pick debut, and caly humphreys holds the lead at the half way. mark humphreys went to gold that previous gains for canada, but she switched to compete the united states in beijing after alleging harassment within the canadian bob system. and before we go, carnival is back on the streets. a squares of venice authorities dropped some of the pandemic restrictions, allowing people to swap surgical mass for traditional 18th century costumes festivals are described as low key. it's the 1st time there's been any carnal celebration since the start of the corona virus. and a reminder of the chop story we're following for you. german president frank walter

stein meyer has been re elected for a 2nd term in office. in his acceptance speech, he referred to tensions between russia and ukraine, and urged germany at its allies to do everything to prevent war in europe. watching dw news live from berlin. dock film is up next with a 1000000000 euro heist. i'll next by, sir. thanks for watching ah, i hold your hand ah, can this because i can artificial intelligence. combat loneliness high and i love stories from the future starts february 14th on d w. ah.