subscribe to d w dot commentary on you to with this is d. w. news live from berlin. land takes a step towards joining nato in a move that would and decades of military non alignment. the finished product president and prime minister say their country should join without delay. moscow says the move is definitely threat. also, the program, the un launch is an investigation into a ledger rights abuses by russia and ukraine, claiming moscow is responsible for the vast majority of civilian casualties. also

coming up to me, astronomers casting light on the dark heart of our galaxy. they reveal the 1st images of the super massive black hole at the center of the milky way. ah and told me aladdin. well, it's good to have you with us. finland's president and prime minister have called for the country to apply for natal membership as soon as possible in a joint statement. the leader said natal membership would strengthen finland, security as a member of nato. finland would strengthen the anti defense alliance and then to must apply for nato membership. without delay. the announcement is expected to put pressure on sweden, which is also considering applying to join. now let's take a look at a map all the current nasal members on the european continent and that long border

that finland shares with russia. it measures some 1300 kilometers. now the national mood has changed dramatically in finland since moscow's invasion of ukraine. as this report explains, finland is looking to ditch decades of military non alignment. while helsinki has moved closer to nato in recent years, it just to stay out of the alliance to avoid antagonizing russia until now. but the invasion of ukraine has battled much of the finished public, who now worry that they could be next. give us security nature force here. that's why i went that way. i nature and i, 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. every veteran through

ford and survived the winter was never to stand alone again. finland chairs, a 1300 kilometer long border with russia. it's a session to the military alliance with more than doubled the russia anita land border. stop. finish diplomats believe me though would benefit greatly if they joined. he are convinced that synagogue bring added value to later old war time. strength of the defense forces is 2280000 troops and the trend reserve is 900000 men and women. fealand has many high in capabilities, including a 5 digit fleet of 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 metos military infrastructure. we have repeatedly said that the expansion of nato and the abroad of the military infrastructure of the alliance to our borders does

not make the world and most a bodily european, eurasian continent more stable and secure. this is unambiguous. finland could make its formula but do need to membership in the coming weeks after the move has been approved by parliament. now russia views the moved by finland as a threat and has condemned the announcement. dw nato correspondent, re sholtes has been following the story for us and share this assessment. fill in felt that said that, you know, it's very strong, national defense would be enough to deter russian attack. but clearly, after this war started a on ukraine, now all bets are off, and that was certainly what changed the public opinion. now russia has reacted antagonistic. lee saying that i today, that is going to cut off finland's gas supply for this. and they've even threatened to move nuclear weapons closer to the finish border. so certainly this is something that, that finland, sweden and all of nato expected. and they're not actually that worried about her.

the resilience is high, the mindset is stable and they were expecting this kind of response from the kremlin. the un human rights council has launched an investigation into a ledge rights abuses committed by russia and ukraine. the council voted overwhelmingly to approve the probe which will look into the abuses in the regions, given other regions where russians withdrew un human rights. chief michelle ashley said russian forces are responsible for the vast majority of civilian deaths in ukraine now with a ukrainians. returning to the city of hockey, the w correspondent, mathias berlin told us about the situation in other cities in the east of ukraine. so yeah, we have different situations at different parts of the front line. around hard keep,

the ukrainian forces have been able to push the russians back almost to the russian borders in some areas and in other areas quite far away from the city. which means that the city is out of artillery range and that's why people are returning to the city because it's now less, it's being less it showed less than before. and that's, but basically this due to this offensive, which seems to be quite successful in don boss, which is further east. the situation looks a bit different. fighting is fierce there. and we have, in the past few days, seen some gains by the russians, not breakthroughs, but the russians are still on the offensive, although things might not go as planned for them either. the ukraine is, are resisting, but nothing is decided there yet. it's still a very intense battle. foreign ministers from the group of 7 wealthy countries have begun a 3 day meeting in northern germany. the agenda includes worldwide food shortages

and energy price increases, and other fallout from the war in ukraine. the meeting at the baltic c resort of vice and 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. the foreign minister of indonesia, which chairs the wide, g 20 group of economies, is used to join by video link. germany currently holds the presidency of the g. 7 german foreign minister, and alina burbock said, the world's wealthiest nations have a responsibility to aid countries suffering, suffering, the economic consequences of russia's invasion. yeah, it stacks in a 3 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 or not now left in the lurch and us, 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 lighted. in we see you, we hear you and we support you. you don't actually know. let's take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world. a memorial service will al jazeera journalists, sharing a claim has been held in the palestinian city of rama. she was killed while covering, and he's really rate in the west bank palestinian leaders. the israel was fully responsible for the journalist's death. israel says it's still unclear who killed her. the united states, as it has now seen more than a 1000000 coven 19 deaths. president joe biden described it as a tragic milestone. comments com, ahead of a virtual summit on the pandemic,

at which it will appeal for a renewed international commitment on tackling the virus throwing in all experts in south africa. a new sub variance of only crime could cause a 5th wave of coven 19 infections. only around a 3rd of the population is vaccinated, though most of acquired a degree of natural immunity. through previous infections, doubly correspondent or increase reports from cape town. a crowded venue life music, good pipes that sweat him soon dantes o and his band have been missing for almost 2 years. south africa, strict cove at 19 restrictions have kept things quiet, doing that time. if really feels good for them to open up even though things are still weird. but i'm happy to see that everyone is enthusiastic. most importantly one's died of being tired. so we just happy to be outside and see if we can make it work, i guess will never be normal, but will establish when you know, of course, we have to be vigilant and still take care of us all. but i'm feeling positive and

got a feeling people out and about here in cape town, seem to share most ignore the rules and don't wear a mask while indoors. this despite rapidly increasing numbers of infections, but even viral adjusts and not ringing the alarm bell, because about 80 percent of the population have already developed some immunity, mainly due to previous infections. the big round of natural infection and increase in coverage of vaccines is really, really big. ah, very helpful is tisha does 2 things that the immunity is important. posting that community with the vaccines natural immunity and, and vaccines is very important. we really need to get most people vaccinated this especially as early day town than you or me crunch. supp variance be a for and be a 5 begins to emerge. both strains were discovered by south african scientists and data suggests they transfer much faster than other people that were just infected

with on the chrome be a one that was the original one. they can easily get the range factors with be a foot and be a 5. so we know that this previous immunity from previous infection it does not very protective from 2nd infection. but we do expect that this immunity to will be protective against hospitalization and death as long as hospital to remain relatively empty by religious say. there is no need for boss to remain empty to that's why and not calling foot sites are covered regulations in south africa. astronomers of unveiled the 1st image of a super massive black hole located right at the center of our own milky way galaxy . scientists say the discovery will help improve our understanding of what happens at the center of our galaxy. what scientists have long waited for the 1st ever picture of the black hole known as sagittarius,

easter. you are the 1st to see our image of the black hole in the center of our galaxy as close as it gets. our entire galaxy revolves around sagittarius, a star. these images helped an international team of researchers prove that black holes are constantly in flux, their gravitational pool is so strong that the swallow everything around them, including light. but when gas around the black hole heats up, it produces radio emissions. and these were captured by 8 connected telescopes. still getting a photo of the black hole was a huge challenge because it just won't hold still a resign kind. his be me that it's like a little baby voting around. it's hard to catch and objects a tune as well. i in filing was it took to supercomputers in the usa and germany 5 years to generate images of the black hole. it's covered by gas and dust in the milky way, and that made the imaging even more difficult than capturing this. the 1st ever

picture of a black hole from another galaxy. research is, are hoping they'll be able to capture moving images of black holes one day. but to make that possible, more specialized, powerful telescopes need to be built. dr. sarah is own, is the nasa einstein fellow at the harvard and smithsonian center for astrophysics . and part of the team that captured the image of this black hole. and she began by explaining how it's possible to see a black hole. so the black hole itself, we don't see, but what we see is the shadow, it casts on it on all the swirling gas that goes around it to the black will itself have all these gas swirling around it that it eats up or it decks out and discuss because it's rotating very rapidly around the black hole. it's very, very hot and it radiates and it radiates radio waves that we observe with the

e t. and so these radio waves create this glow that we see around the black hole. and this black hole is actually inside this dark patch, which we call the shadow that it casts on to this swirling height, gas. so the black hole at the center of our galaxy has had indirect evidence that it was there for a while. and in 2020 the nobel prize in physics was partly awarded to studies of orbits of stars in our galactic center. that had very peculiar orbits around this very dark and hidden compact mass. and we have thought a lot about what the specs could be and the best scenario is that it's a black hole. but that's always been in direct evidence that it is a black hole. and today we're actually seeing it for the 1st time. so today is really the 1st time we have direct evidence at the center of our galaxy. there is a black hole, which is i think it's pretty amazing. and not only that you have now 2 black holes that we can see. and these 2 black holes are fairly different in size and their

environment. they are in very different galaxies, both medi 7 decided terraces are behaved very differently. and i, we have 2 black holes, we can study, and i think it's really opening up a new laboratory for black will astrophysics. and that's really exciting. fascinating, that you are watching d. w. news up next as business. and we'll have more headlines for you at the top of the are, i'm told me a lot of things watching i reset the world over d, w on facebook and twitter up to date and in touch. follow us. oh, hello guys. this is the 77 percent the platform for africa. you to be beat issues and share ideas you know, or this channel. we are not afraid to happen delicate topic because what.