ah, ah ah, this is debbie news live from berlin. russia reports a drone attack, hundreds of kilometer from the front lines of its warn you. crane. drone is shot down before can strike an air base. as the russian defense ministry, the wreckage allegedly kills free people. also on the show, chinese war planes entered taiwan air space and one of the largest violations of its kind. china blames provocations from the united states and taiwan. and the big fries keeps on going across north america, for after a bitter christmas storm and its claim dozens of lives.

ah, am bluecross, welcome to the program. russia says a drone attack on one of its air bases has killed 3 people. the defense ministry said the attack happened at angles, air base hundreds of kilometers from russia's war in ukraine. the deaths were apparently caused by falling debris. after a drone was shot down. official said no planes were damaged, but social media accounts said several had been destroyed. ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack. let's bring indeed of your report. i have maria cut to missouri for more on this story. maria. very good to see you. first of all, what is the significance of this air base?

well, as you saw before, the military air failed angles 2 is quite far away from ukraine, about 700 kilometers to be precise. many military experts say dot choosing and gold space as a target is not accidental. essentially, there are 2 key reasons why it was attacked. firstly, it's a base for russian strategic bombard, and therefore it's an attractive targets for craniums. and secondly, just to remind you, it was exactly from angles airbase that russia launched massive attacks on ukraine 2 weeks ago. so i would say that these 2 factors make many observers believe that these talk was part of the come back from the ukranian military. our russian authorities responded to this attack deep into its territory. while other actions from the russian side was quite restrained,

the russian minister of defense claims that the drone was actually taken down by ed defense. and according to their statement, no military equipment was damaged, reassuring that it was not a big deal, despite all the casualties. and what does this attack seem to mean to moscow? what we're hearing from them? well, according to the military experts, this incident does not carry much of a military significance, but more of a propagandistic psychological and political one. suddenly this is a blow to moscow and we can say that it's a victory for a key if ukrainians seem to be getting more comfortable and confident to target to strategic facilities inside russia. well, maybe for moscow, this attack is not as big as devastating as an occupied crimea breach

explosion, for instance. but these attack and dissimilar wants that happened in the past few months. really, what it does is to open up a discussion about the efficiency of russian system of air defense. the main question essentially is how it could make it so far away on the russian territory without being detected or shut down. before it approached the base reporter, maria, cut the massive air. thanks very much. more than 70 chinese military aircraft have enter taiwanese air space over the last 24 hours. the islands government has reported that makes it china's largest incursion near the break away island that china claims as its own. taiwan defense ministry said dozens of fiber jets crossed the median line and the taiwan strait, which acts as an unofficial buffer zone. beijing said it had conducted drills in

response to provocations from taiwan and the united states. get more on this from other send a research associate on taiwan and chinese foreign policy. i think eurasia group in washington, d. c. of it. we've seen a lot of these kinds of err incursions from the chinese military. how seriously should we take these kinds of actions? thank you for that question and thank you for inviting me on the show. so this propagation is definitely the largest in scale that we have seen, but why not interpret this as a sign that the chinese is going to launch and eminent attack against one china historically has conducted larger and larger aircraft drills in response to us actions of supporting one, so the most recent sign of increasing your support to taiwan is the passing of the national defense authorization act by congress f war fiscal year 2023. and

within this n d a legislation, there is a $10000000000.00 defense authorization for taiwan, which will basically fast track military assistance, just high one and as well as equipment procurement on the behalf of type a. so this is an unprecedented action on the part of the us because a think a lot of law makers in congress are increasing their sentiment of support for taiwan. and obviously from stages perspective, this is an unwelcome action, and therefore they have increased the amount of aircraft that they send across the street. but this from paging perspective is more an act out deterrence rather than an act of offensive attack, even though from the outside person perspective. when we see those numbers,

it's quite scary. but i would say this is not an eminent sign that china will attack taiwan anytime soon. and china may be very far away if ever, from militarily taking taiwan. but taiwan, none the less, i'm sure, has a response to these kinds of air incursions. can you go into that a little bit? so taiwan, this, this far has been doing some, you know, routine and you know, discouragement of those aircraft. i think that how many is military is it never really engages with the chinese aircraft. and what that one ministry of defense does is that reports daily on the numbers of chinese aircraft incursions and stay post to publicly on the internet and which shows sort of the increasing pressure. that's how one is under from, you know, china from, from the chinese milledge military. but in terms of concrete actions that at the

time when his military has taken, i don't think there's any saying that is, you know, very strong coming out from the town side of a sham from the eurasia group. there for us. thanks very much. thank you. hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses are still without power. after a massive winter storm hit, much of the united states and canada across those 2 countries, people are working to clear out snow and restored down. power lines. storm has claimed more than 40 lives. several weather advisors remain in effect. the deep arctic fries disrupted holiday travel plans for millions of people. with this couple in buffalo, new york face the cold, unfit in a final bit to be with their loved ones during the holidays. the relentless storms across north america are slowly dying out, but streets remain blanketed and snow. power shortages still leave millions cold

and in the dark, even snow plies, i getting stuck in drifts after working tirelessly to clear the roads. new york's governor please for caution. you need to stay off the roads. we've been begging. we've been asking in the vast majority of you have and i'm so grateful for that. but those of you who violate the driving bands, you may think you can go to the store for that 6 pack, which you are endangering other people across the border and canada travelers had to come to times with the fact that they wouldn't make it home for the holidays, those going by train from ottawa, arrived at the station to find their journeys cancelled for some the luggage went back into the taxi, but others don't know how to get home portion of the change or cancel for today. so just trying to get back home for holidays, i'm waiting for how to go and stay there for a day just a day and i go back to freezing winds. have st. temperature is plunging well below

0 for days. now. even though the worst seems to be over, the number of storm related deaths is expected to rise as rescue efforts continue across the continent. turning out some other stories making news right now. days of heavy snowfall across large parts of japan as left more than 17 people, dad and dozens injured. thousands of homes have suffered power outages, trans whether agency is warning residents in effect regions to avoid travel. after hundreds of cars got stuck on roads in heavy snow, south korea scramble its military jets, an attack helicopters, other 5 north korean drones crossed into its aerospace, south re official said the military fire warning shots at the drones and sent surveillance aircraft into north korea flights were temporarily suspended at 2

airports near the south green capital. so members of francis curtis community and their supporters are holding a march to honor free people killed in last, friday, shooting at a kurdish cultural center in paris. prosecutor say the 69 year old suspect detained at the scene at a clear as a clear racist motive. many courage in france say, police have not done enough to protect them. o. bethlehem is widely celebrated as the birthplace of jesus. droves of pilgrims and tourists visit the palestinian city in the west bank to see the grotto that believers revere as the spot where jesus was born. but one is railey archeologist thinks everyone's got it wrong and he's not alone. his team has spent years collecting artifacts in another bethlehem, in the north, in israel's galilee. it's just down the road from the ancient city of nazareth. he says his findings prove that joseph m a heavily pregnant mary walked just 7

kilometers, not 150. to the major where the christian messiah was born. it's a well known tale of a young family need of a boy whose birth began the christian narrative and founded an entirely new religion. joseph and the heavily pregnant mary travel from their home in nazareth to the city of bethlehem. jerusalem. cool. so the story goes, but not everyone agrees on the details. wolf of the chances that a 9 month pregnant woman would ride on the donkey from nazareth all to bed. lamb, julia, archaeologist, savvy ram, or sri spent 11 years excavating, another bethlehem of the galilee, not far from nazareth. he says 3 key findings prove this is the real birthplace of jesus. this is the butler because justine on, in the 6th century build a wall or wrong,

but let him. and there is no wall lamp in the other wet lemme and here by 2 he says shows the juice had settled in his area during that period. every points towards jerusalem. we know that jesus was born as a jew, live. this is drew and died as a jew. so there should be community living in this side where he was born and there is no traces. archaeological traces a over inhabitants in the roman period in the other bit. lemme plus the remnants of the big and important church. he believes our proof this bethlehem was once an important place for christians. his thesis though hasn't gained much traction. 100 and these are the remains of here in the traditional bethlehem in the occupied west bank. there's more at stake than historical truth or where exactly mary, joseph and baby, jesus found refuge for centuries. this has been

a place of pilgrimage of tourism and of course big business. but that's not what's important to religious leaders here. not only by the buildings, it's not only by maybe the the think that we're looking for exactly that this is the right place, but it's my belief and by faith. and this is the most important thing. our sri is committed to his theory and vows to keep promoting it. he claims it's supported by facts and logic, but ultimately he agrees that for the 1000000000 plus christian faithful, whether there or here will all come down to a matter of faith. now reminder of the top story we're following for you. russia's defense ministry says 3 of its personnel had been killed by wreckage. falling from 8th droned, rushes shot down the drone over its angles. air base officials denied planes were damaged, but social media reports suggest several work. was the 2nd tack on the facility

this month. that's all for now. did up in east asia is up next. of course, all you the latest at the w t. f dot com and following us on twitter and instagram . new news. and of course, right here, d w, where we'll have more few stop the our mind with rough see event. ah ah ah, in the moon and a.