also coming can technology from space help fight, famine on earth. we'll take a look at what answer scientists have come up with. and we'll show you how diamond traders and ad words are planning to deal with the fall out of western sanctions against russia. amid the war in ukraine, chris kolber on berlin. welcome to the program. mario pole in the southeast of ukraine was once a thriving industrial city port with a population of 440000 people. many of them worked for companies producing iron, steel, grain and machines, which were then exported from the cities harbor at the sea of oz of to countries all around the world. but now maria poll resembles a wasteland. the russian army has turned the city into his site of destruction and death. the former mayor says at least 10000 people have died. many more have fled. one of them is julia carry anava. she is the c o smart holding

a company owning steel mills and mario paul, which are now out of operation, because they've been destroyed the w's. emily sherwin met up with her at the rolled economic forum in davos. i was kind of paralyzed, i few days after the war started and then i did 2 things. the 1st one, i just accepted what happened and said, okay, i have nothing at all. i have an old home. i have nothing, no work, for example, i'm out of my job. and then ah, i realized i have myself. and that's what really a made me start over a start again and come over of everything. so and then we'll try to do whatever we can for our employees and to give them job and to pay them salaries.

speaking of the destruction that the war has caused 2 of your steel plants in my to you put, were actually disc destroyed by russians. so shelling, including the as of style steel plant, which, you know, has been in the headlines so much. how do you deal with the emotional shock of that kind of thing? and how do you get over it from a business perspective as well? oh oh, it can not kind of deal with it in any way. we're just ah, we just have to leave ah, to, to help as much as we can. ah, and to or, or make people feel ah, that sir. a we take care of them and

i don't know if you see that their point is that none of the businesses was prepared. we were preparing ourselves, but it was not like what we expected the scale of this invasion, the cruelty and everything. so you can not just 100000 people move somewhere. when the steel mills are there, you can naught and to stop operations on time is a very general mental issue. you know, and also the operate is the, some production process needs certain time to be stopped. so all of these factor factors could not allow for perfect efficiency in saving lives. but sir, most of our people are out of marable, was still have some missing people. and that will be with us for our

the war ukraine is threatening to immensely increase hunger in the world as millions of tons of agricultural products sit in ukrainian ports for shipment being prevented by a rushing blockade. could space technology help fight famine on earth? that is a question researchers have been trying to answer at the living planet, symposium of the european space agency, which is taking place in the german city of barnes. we can, the technical possibilities of observing our planet from space is becoming quite sophisticated. and agriculture can also benefit it's not just ukrainian farmers that can see the state of their country's wheat fields, satellites scan to. it takes 6 days for the european space agency is satellites to map every field in the world. space information on ugly culture brings the transparency tour agriculture markets,

helping them to avoid speculation in the market. pricing of certain crop, a staples such as wheat and mice. this is what the satellite data looks like on a computer. these are the fields east of key if the high resolution images can show the state of vegetation and harvest. different filters help analyze the images. for example, the various stages of photosynthesis can be tracked, research institutions and private companies use this data. those features can tell us something on how good or how about the plants are growing. what kind of plans are going on those fields? and also, and which management techniques, well not all of the agricultural management, but a lot there you go to amendment, are being implicated on the field. we do evaluate the satellite information and combines it with other data from drones. for example, with it,

an individual ears of corn can be counted. the data enables software and artificial intelligence to deliver more accurate harvest forecasts. the main interest for data like this is coming from governments and international organizations. but there are also private players that are interested in large, large agrifood industry, but also farmers themselves or are interested in this kind of information. this year, ukraine's wheat harvest is expected to be just 2 thirds of its usual size. that's according to a french company which analyzes the satellite data. even though shortages cannot be avoided. this information can help to adjust them. in davos, dw editor in chief murder, caspar, courage mad with the european space agencies, c o years of us for her. and she asked them what the agencies data tells us about the current global food crisis. the state is, sir, actually,

i would say alarming in some countries, especially ukraine. now ukraine of course, being known as so that's the area where most of the wheat is being produced for from any other countries. not only for russia are not only for odd for, for our other part of the planet. so yes, sir, there we see of course, a huge impact because many fields are not being the bed because they cannot be better because of the conflict that is ongoing. so yes, there we will miss. so a huge sure amount of harvests which will not be coming. and yes, we can. we can see that the question then of course, is how can we identify other areas are in order to compensate for that under and, and work on this. and this is something that we use for dean li, since many decades already are in africa for example. where we use our satellites to estimate the production of agricultural claudser in the country of certain copyright under this is so actually one of the oldest applications or of earth

observation, where in order to really determine the you so far do yourself the satellite for, for to kill it. well, the colonization of space seems to be gaming speed. now, what's your take on that? are about my day current. of course, this is something that happens globally. europe is a little bit behind this curve for because the commercialization goes much fast and us. we see it of course, through our space acts and amazon and other go either i would say which people are who are investing it, but also many investors are in silicon valley, for example, are creating a completely new environment. and that's also happening in europe. and that's something that i also would like to do, because i would like to create an environment or in your hop are where a small company is start up, sir, can develop businesses or those who are new services or new constellations are new activities. they are building up and yes, commercialization is a big job because of for me, the head of the european space agency. joseph ashby,

speaking to d. w. editor in chief money la carte, and w, adverb. and belgium has, for centuries, been a global hub for trading diamonds, but the business has become more difficult lately. banks have frozen dollar accounts to try to come in line with new you anti money laundering rules. and there's an important band on, on cut diamonds from russia, over the war in ukraine w's jack parish reports for me and work outside the time. robin burton has been in the diamond trade for over 40 years. he's one of 1600 registered diamond dealers working in antwerp, the global hub for diamonds, but a tight knit community. these stones are almost always bought and sold in us dollars from burden has just successfully sued his bank for blocking his dollar accounts. when it's implemented, you anti money laundering rules, he says, the dealers here who face similar issues are now clubbing together to take on the bags. the main banks in belgium have excluded diamond dealers from deer,

from the bank accounts. so we, we believe there will be a class action and because you cannot see this otherwise than discrimination of an entire industry lawyer say the case will be titled a group claim against one or more of belgium's financial institutions. they be seeking legal protection for their accounts. the antwerp world diamond center, which represents dealers here, says the aggressive d risking of the banks had adverse effects from the beginning. some crazy thing saying, sense of people, certain he started to, to pay their, their employee, sir, in cash money. and if they're wanting, you don't, once in a business, and if you want to have anti money laundering measures, then of course, these are the things you exactly want to avoid. federal fin, which represents the belgian banking sector, refuse to comment on legal cases which are yet to arise. but did tell the w in

a statement that every bank has its own legal and compliance department, which will analyze the complaints of the clients in light of this legislation and possible litigation procedures. the european banking authority released a report saying, authority should ensure then not unfairly targeting any sectors while implementing the e u. antimony wandering directive traders here on this small street in antwerp where over $37000000000.00 worth of and then pass through every year. so it's one of the only places in the world where there's genuine world peace. but this battle with the belgium bangs is causing real friction. they say they're also under additional pressure from an import ban on uncut diamonds from russia over the war in ukraine. antwerp imported 30 percent of russia's diamonds, and one expert told us the global nature of the diamond industry mean sanctions are ineffective without the diamond hubs in india. and dubai being on board, diamonds are not polished in russia. yeah. so a rough,

rough diamond that is significantly transformed, which means polishing is not any more a russian diamond, but becomes an indian diamond. because 90 to 95 percent of all diamonds are polished in india. it's a rocky time france works. diamond sector with perhaps a major legal battle against the banks on the horizon. and as much over now as usual does more on a website at d, w dot com slash business. i'm course cobra roland. thanks for watching. have a great weekend with with

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history of mankind. more life starts may 28th on d, w. ah this is the w news live from by laying that russia back separatists claim to have taken a key town in easton ukraine. bosco steps up, it's bombardment of don bass saving to encircle, defensive forces and take control of the country's industrial hot land. also on the, on the program g 7.