ah ah, this is either we news live from rural land line of defense. finland takes a 1st step towards joining nato in a move that would and decades of military non alignment. the finish presidents and prime minister said their country should join without delay. moscow says the move is definitely a threat. also coming up, the un launch has an investigation into a ledge rights abuses by russia and ukraine, claiming moscow was responsible for the vast majority of civilian casualties. also

coming up, astronomers casting a lights on the dark hearts of our galaxy. they reveal the 1st images of the super massive black hole at the center. after milky wait ah hello everyone, i'm layla iraq. it's good to be with you. where we can, our coverage went what could be a story turning point for european security, finland's presidents and prime minister have called for the country to apply for nato membership. as soon as possible in a joint statements. they say nato membership with strength and finland, security as a member of nato, finland would strengthen the entire defense alliance fin that must apply for nato membership without delay. all the announcements, it is expected to put pressure on sweden, which is also considering applying to joint finland shares

a 1300 kilometer border with russia. the national mood has so changed dramatically since moscow's invasion of ukraine. finland is looking to ditch decades of military non alignment. while helsinki has moved closer to nato in recent years. it just will stay out of the alliance to avoid antagonizing russia until now. but the invasion of ukraine has battled much of the finish public. who now worry that big would be next. give us a security nature of course. yeah, that's the right island. that we, i, nature. and i think that we should have at the nato already in a near 1990 s money. when it was possible. we stood alone in 1939. we don't want to stand alone again with every veteran who fought and survived the winter wars had never ever stand alone again. finland, she has a 1300 kilometer long border with russia. it's

a session to the military alliance with more than doubled the russia nieto land border top finish diplomats believe nieto would benefit greatly if they joined. you are convinced that synagogue will bring any value to nato. a war time strength of the defense forces is 20. 280000 troops and the trend reserve is 900000 men and women. finland has many high antic of abilities including a 5 digit fleet of f 8 this gradually to be replaced by recently ordered $64.00 if $35.00 jet fighters the gramlin has said its response would depend on the extent of needles, military infrastructure. we have repeatedly said that the expansion of nato and the approach of the military infrastructure of the alliance to our borders does not make the world. and most importantly, european, eurasian continent more stable and secure. this is unambiguous.

finland could make its formal bedu, nato membership in the coming weeks after the move has been approved by parliament was dig deeper. now dw reporter anna a sir. austria is from finland and can provide us with further context. so good to have you here with us and our very important day and we hear from analyst that this represents a fundamental see change in finland. can you speak to that? yeah, that's right. i mean, still before the war in ukraine started at the beginning of the year, only 20 percent offends. wanted to see if finland, join nato. and now the most recent poll from this week puts that number at 76 percent. so it's really, really traumatic this change. and the announcement from today is just to peak off that build up. and yeah, we also saw over the years that governments wanted to keep this option open, but there wasn't really political implemented for that. finland had very good

neighborly relations with russia. there was trade, there was tourism across the border. a lot of finished companies had their operations or their production based in russia. but now i mean that, that areas clearly over that area is clearly over to speak to us a little bit in terms of this, this pressure. now this, this, this willingness to join nato in what i mean. this change, this change happened in what couple of months. yes, that's right. i mean the so far finland really benefit from its neutral status. and that was also part of the political ideology. and it started somewhere in the cold war because even with the soviet union, finland had this friendship agreement and still throughout the 90s, finland obviously joined european union, started to participate together with sweden in nato exercises, became a nato partner and not a member. but still there were pretty good good ties. but yeah, i mean,

just now in mid april, the finish government with the change security situation brought out a report that clearly said that the best option for finland now to bolster its security is to join nato is chanita. but i still wonder it, especially considering and light of what you just told us this neutrality position, quote unquote worked really well for finland for quite some time. or people in finland. scared that this or not scared worried, concerned that this might backfire this decision. people are definitely worried, but i wouldn't say that they are really afraid that under the country that's very prepared. and even now in this situation, they are already looking at what type of threats could come it's way. and for this differently counting on some hybrid warfare. and one of the things that has been speculated on is a similar incident to what we have seen at the polish bella, lucy, and border with scores of refugees arriving unexpectedly. finland is counting on something similar to happen and also on cyber attacks on this critical

infrastructure for instance. and, and just a final thought from you is going to take some time before they can become a member of nato. there's a whole process that needs to take place. is there also a concern that in the mean time, gapping that period that finland is vulnerable? there is some concern and obviously before finland's now made this announcement and reach this decision to actually yeah, potentially apply to nato. they really wanted to see from their partners some security guarantees. and in the past couple of weeks talks took place with other partner countries and it seems like they have gotten these guarantees are now now willing to then take also to step on the play d, w and i so rusty, thank you so much for expanding our understanding of this very momentous decision that philip has taken today. thank you. sure. well, in the meantime, the un un human rights council has launched an investigation into alleged rights

abuses committed by russia and ukraine. the council voted overwhelmingly to approve the prob, which will look into abuses in the regions of keith, czerny heath har keith, and so male, un human rights chief michel busha, lee said russian forces are responsible for the vast majority of civilian deaths in ukraine. she added that the bodies of more than 1000 civilians have been recovered in areas north of keys that were previously occupied by russian troops. the investigation comes as ukrainian forces report progress, pushing back russian troops from the north eastern city of harkey. some residents who fled to fighting there have begun returning to their villages. a home at last, tatiana has returned to her village for the 1st time in 2 months. but there's not much left of her house. her garden is littered with the aftermath of russia's

invasion, touch on his goats, at least, survived the onslaught them there with them. he had russians are brothers, though i could never imagined anything like this, this aggression and destruction. visual. when i came home, i kissed the ground. now i have nothing more. where am i supposed to live? and what should i do? was your neighbors in that village weren't spared either. and also came back to find the piles of rubble where their homes one stood but perhaps nowhere either ruins greater than mar you, paul. after weeks of relentless bombardment, russian forces and their separatist allies are now in control of almost all of the strategic port city. before rebuilding can begin,

cruise must 1st clear massive amounts of rubble. i used to have 3 rooms now, only half of one. when i came up from the shelter, i opened the door and there was no apartment any more. that was scary. residents who have remained behind are now trying to get on with their lives. and in many cases, that means improvising the loan hold out of resistance remains the as of style steel plant where fighters trapped underground have been withstanding russian pounding the ukrainian government has proposed swapping them and exchange for russian soldiers captured during their invasion of ukraine. earlier i asked, i did have the correspondence, amanda, safe and the v for the latest on the prisoner exchange. moscow still now responded

layla to this sir most recent request, but previously they've said that they will not go for a anything but a prisoner of war to a prisoner of war swap. in other words, this is an unusual request that a moscow, russia would swap prisoners of war, ukrainian prisoners of war in exchange for combatants who have not yet surrendered to russia's military. now those would be combatants who are wounded, a witcher ukraine, counts as civilians. that's why there have been reports that there are civilians left in the as of south steel plant. but russia seems intent on them of forcing the defenders of that plans to surrender because that would mean a total victory in mar, you call. and it seems that they will accept nothing less. in other words, a prisoner of war swapped for combatants of would not fire with moscow, but moscow has caved to ukrainian demands for prisoners of war swabs previously. so we'll have to see how this plays out later. so still stalemate in matthew pola and marya steel plant. but in the meanwhile,

we understand russia has suffered setbacks. that's right, layla in har keith, as we've seen that the russians have been pushed out of the villages surrounding the city, which means that their tanks and their, their assault on that city is far out of range so that shells can not reach the city. this is very important because without ground support without shelling, russia has not been able to take any city. so a lot of the attacks that we're seeing elsewhere in ukraine, like karen levine, or, and chair near in the north, just recently a shell, a caused destruction there of civilian buildings. these are more of a terroristic style attack. meant to scare the population, but in no way could actually claim the city for russian control now. and don bass though, we're seeing the opposite, where russia is securing its hold on areas that it already had been involved in and also surrounding cities like us of it. are done yet, which is the last city in the east that is still under ukrainian control,

but is now completely surrounded by russian military. and most analysts believe that it will fall soon to russian forces. and there's been a, a warning from the kremlin about the west supplying weapons to ukraine. that's right. and dmitri med did. it was one of the closest advisors to the russian president vladimir putin said that the west needs to be careful of its actions. he complained about the amount of weapons coming over the border into ukraine to supply ukrainian forces. he said that there is a limit to how much russia would take and said that this could escalate into a nuclear war. he didn't said he would say russia would start the nuclear war, but that's what it's implying. so this comes just a few days after russia said that they do not want to have a nuclear war. what's happening here is that russia is keeping this as an option to scare the west. and i think that there are examples of leaders in the west that are taking this very seriously all off shorts is one of them. this is why he's been very hesitant to send a more heavy weapons into ukraine at a fears of escalating the conflict beyond. i'm controlled because layla most people

who have studied nuclear war know that it doesn't come down to a board meeting where people say we're going to launch nuclear weapons this things on hair trigger alert and it could be out of the control of anybody. so i think both sides are being careful here in their words, as well as in their actions. i mean, i see for reporting from that live ukraine. thank you very much. i'm in foreign ministers from the group of 7 countries have begun a 3 day meeting in northern germany. their agenda includes worldwide food shortages and energy price increases and other fall out from the war in ukraine. the meeting at the baltic c, resort of bison house will likely also focus on relations with china and on climate change. the foreign ministers of ukraine and moldova will take part in the meeting on saturday. a foreign minister of indonesia, which chairs the wider g 20 group of economies, is due to join by video link. germany currently holds the presidency of that g

santa and the german foreign minister on a lena bear box spoke are just moments ago about the responsibility of the group of 7. here is what she said. exactly. take a lesson. yeah, i had stacks in a c not still has the strongest industrialized nations among the democracies. we have a special responsibility. and we don't just assume this responsibility. we want to work together to ensure that the 141 states that have condemned this brutal war of aggression in the strongest possible terms within the framework of the un, are not now left in the lurch. so none does, yes, but rather we stand by their side and in solidarity with all countries in the world suffering. the brutal consequences of this war of aggression light is in. we see you, we hear you and we support you on dashed. it's neu and urban foreign minister speaking, there are just moments ago. let's take you now, we're to the venue where the meeting is taking place. our chief international

editor, richard walker, joins is now from northern germany. richard, what more? the, the, the foreign minister say yes, layla, the ana, lena bear. bog, really a throwing a spotlight on one of the big bits of fall out from this war. that is affecting many countries around the world. and that is the impact on the provision of grain to countries around the world is she was for a flagging up the fact that a, an estimated $25000000.00 tons of ukrainian grain is now held up in u grain. because it can't get out of a port and on to the seas a because of a blockade by the russian side. so the g 7 is going to be looking at this in some detail, trying to work out ways of getting that grain to the world economy to countries that need it without having to go through the usual routes that could involve getting grain on 2 trains getting it on to trucks moving it to ports in poland for instance, where it can get on to a ship survive the baltic sea and, but there are

a huge thorny problems involved there. they're trying to work out the right gauge of railway, a wagons to carry that grain just getting the amount of throughput that could come anywhere near to the size of ships or that would usually carry their grain. but i think part of this is also sending a signal out of the world and throwing the blame for this blockade squarely on to vladimir putin. rather than allowing that kind of narrative to develop that this is really western sanctions that is causing this problems. very much saying that is the war. the putin began for created this problem. and richard, i understand that the ukrainian foreign minister is also attending the meeting. yeah, that's right, so a demitra caliber will be one of the guests at this meeting that also indicating that ukraine and germany are falling into a better pattern of relations have been is some, some strife between the 2 sides in the last couple of months with the ukrainians,

accusing all of schoultz, the chancellor in particular about being hesitant about supplying weapons to ukraine. but being hesitant to move forward, we're trying to break the dependency on russian energy with shouts. now backing the supplies of heavy weapons and coming through the lot of the so supplies relations have been patched up to some extent were caliber will also be banging the drumhead drum here for the next big objective of the ukrainian side. and that is to get a firm commitment from the european union that it will name ukraine as a candidate country to join the european union down the road. the ukrainians are worried that various countries when in europe, a want to back pedal on that idea, a want to fob ukraine off with some alternative solution. so they're certainly banging the drum here at the g 7 for that night. chief international editor, richard walker, reporting on the g 7 in northern germany. thank you very much for your coverage.

let's settle you now. but the other stories in the headlines right now. the united states, as it has now seen more than a 1000000 covert 19 deaths. president obama described it as a tragic milestone. his comments come ahead of a virtual summit on the pandemic at which he will appeal for renewed international commitment on tackling virus russia. a memorial service for al jazeera journalist sharyn abruptly has been held in the palestinian city of am allah! she was killed the day before while covering an israeli raid in the occupied westbank palestinian leaders say israel was quote, fully responsible for the journal. his death. israel says it's still unclear who killed her. south korea says north korea as test launched 3 short range ballistic missiles to work the same. and a military parade scene here in april, north korea's leader came on, said he would speed up the development of nuclear weapons. despite un resolution

banning the north from launching ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, astronomers have unveiled the 1st image of a super massive black hole located right at the center of our own milky way galaxy . the ground breaking image is the product of an international team of scientists known as the event horizon telescope collaboration. the cosmic body is named sagittarius, a star. the black hole is estimated to have a 4000000 times the mass of our son, and is located about 260001000 rather light years from earth side to say the discovery will help improve our understanding of what happens at the center of our galaxy. like it's an earlier i spoke to were dr. sarah suna, a nasa einstein fellow at the harvard smithsonian center for astrophysics. and i

asked her just how significant this breakthrough is. so it's a big day for us. it's the 2nd image of a black hole after we revealed the 1st image back in 2019, which was the black hole at the center of the 87 galaxy. that is 55000000 light years away from us. but today we're seeing the black hole in our own backyard, basically at the center of our milky way galaxy. and this black will image is kind of amazing because we've been studying the cycle for a long time. and the story of building the e t was to chase this image, this image of sad to terrorist a star. and it feels like the culmination of efforts of so many people. it's such an exciting day. i imagine how difficult was it to produce this image. it was very difficult that if i gave us a lot of headaches for the past 2 years, compared to am 87, it's a much smaller black hole. it's over a 1000 times smaller than m $87.00. and so the gas around it takes less time to

go around. so gas that would take days or weeks to go around and maybe 7 takes just minutes to go round sad to terrace, a star because it's smaller. and so the gas in the image decided terry phase start changes during our 8 hours of observation. whereas m 87th, the still so taking a photo of it is like taking a photo of a running toddler running around the room at night. it was just very, very challenging. we're dealing with motion blur, we're dealing with things going around all the time. so that gave us a lot of work to do it, trying to understand how this motion can be captured in the image. and we finally did it amazing, amazing stuff. how will this break through have an impact on us here, right on earth? i think it's exciting because we're seeing the super massive black hole at the center of our galaxy. and we think there are super massive black holes at the

centers of most galaxies. and they have a central role in how galaxies evolve. how we grow, how you know galaxies are formed and are part of the universe. and so seeing the one at the center of our galaxy kind of make this part of something bigger than the earth is in the milky way. and this is our black hole that is lurking there. and, you know, having an impact on how our galaxy evolves and growth. now i understand that an image of a black hole was released back in 2019. what have we learned from this latest image that you did not know before? right, so exciting thing. so the 1st image of the black hole was the black hole in the empty 7 galaxy, that black hole, we didn't know how massive it was. there were 2 conflicting measurements of the math. and so we could only measure the math once we had an image in so we could get

kind of a sense of how well einstein's theory of general relativity did for predicting that black hole math, but not as well as static tennessee star. because back in 2020, that nobel prize in physics was awarded to these amazing studies of cellar orbits in our galactic center that go around really fast. this darkness that is supposed to be extremely massive and compact. that was supposed that was measured to be about $4000000.00 map times more massive than our son. and the darkness that wasn't seen that was causing the stars to orbit the way they are is actually the black hole. and this is the 1st time we have direct evidence that this object that is creating the star is moving in this way. it is a black hole and we're seeing it for the 1st time. and in fact, the size of the black hole that we measure exactly matches what einstein's prediction is. and that's super exciting because we're testing einstein theory, and it's still a whole strong for side of tennessee star,

which is the much tighter test that for many 7, amazing, amazing stuff. we've learned so much in such little time just by speaking to you, astrophysicist, a dr. serra you soon thank you so much. she's a nasa einstein fellow at the harvard and smithsonian center for astro physics exciting times. thank you for coming on. thank you. we're turning to ukraine now in life, in the capital keys, 2 thirds of the cities that happens half returned restaurants are again, open for business. and so our boxing, jim's boxing is a beloved sport in ukraine, and it's helping some deal with the stress of war weeks after russian forces retreated from the suburbs of cave gems have begun to reopen at the all star as boxing club. and lucy, s stay in shape while warding off anxiety and stress. we'll ethical luskin and ask each other with the curfew in the city and restricted movement we needed someplace to blow off steam and discharge emotional tension. i get a with naturally,

this helps a lot. is that the ocean from a high for the past 2 decades, ukraine has excelled in the boxing world with their fighters, gaining a reputation for speed, movement, and fighting. i q the skills that also appear to have helped on the battlefield will switch and see moscow books and such. we have a strong boxing school, i believe lou sick lama jenko, the cook, go brothers, all our boxers who are world famous and have achieved impressive results. the decision shook this and thought of these amateur athletes said, boxing clears their head and keeps them ready for whatever lies ahead or weak app. now, of the top story at this hour, finland's leaders have called for their country to apply for nato membership. as soon as possible, it's the 1st step in a process which could see finland and decades of military non alignment.

he wanting to renew his life from berlin. stick with us up. next is news asia with fresh batter. jay on behalf of all of us here. thank you so much for making as part of your day. the news continues right after ah, with

ah, with who is the end of the pandemic in site. we show what it could look like. return to normal and we visit those who are finding it difficult. a successes in weekly coping 19, especially over 9 in special in 60 minutes on d. w. to be your own health advocate.

by turning into your own expert, we are your coach without any fiction and lots of facts. be active in a clever way. with all d, w o, one of mankind's oldest ambition could be within reach or what is it really is possible to reverse aging researchers and scientists all over the world are in a race against time. the d. n. a molecule though has 28000000 different our glasses . they are peers and rivals with one during goal,

2 out nature. one of the most insightful discoveries in the history of mankind. more life starts may 28th on d, w. long. this is date of the news, a show coming up today. an unprecedented turn of events in north korea. the country declares a severe emergency full but an outbreak of only cron. if the 1st time john young has admitted to having any coven infections, why has it made the mission now? and what is the risk for the population? and a promise of great to cooperation between the you and japan in the wake of russia, the measure.