[000:00:00;00] with ah ah, this is the w live from berlin. concerns are growing over the health of former poll benedict, the 64 frances has visited his predecessor and asked the faithful for prayers

for german born benedict who became the 1st 12 to retire and 600. also, the program liberated ukrainian city is now losing residence. as russia steps off its attacks on song, some people are deciding they will not risk becoming the wars next casualty glass. the death toll from north america storm of the century rises as people in the heart of buffalo, new york did their way out. some of the dead are found frozen in vehicles and snowball. ah, i'm good. how about as welcome to the program? the health of the former po benedict is deteriorating. pope frances has visited his predecessor, described to him as very sick about con, confirm that band of it's condition is worsening spokesperson said he is receiving

constant medical attention. b 95 year old former pontiff has been almost entirely absent from public view in recent years. those who have seen benedict been weeks reported that he was frail, but his mind was still sharp. vaughn pope benedict was born in germany as years of that sinner, he was the 1st book to resign in some 600 years, been at a step down in 2013 due to declining health when he was succeeded by francis glory here. total napoli, i'd like to ask all of you for a special prayer for ameritas, poke benedict, who in silence is sustaining the church. i remind you that he's very sick. he's enrolled here. let's ask the lord to comfort him and support him in his testimony of love to the church to the very end. within ours i religious of asked responded, martin got martin. i we just heard

a frances say that benedict is very sick. what more do we know? we don't really know much. we know that his health has been deteriorating for quite a few months. we have not seen him in public for quite a long time as well. and as a matter of fact, the message from the pope seems to signal that the flux should be prepared for any kind of into our living. so though we don't really know specifically what the condition says, it's very clear that you know, the situation is progressing. now francis has been visiting his predecessor frequently, what do we know about their relationship? the relationship has been white warm for the public, but i think that at the very same time has actually been a relation of consultation in some way or other. so the fact is that this pope remain a meritus, so essentially that means above that has the merit. even if he does not have the credentials and an office. essentially, he has been a strong supporter, seems to have been a strong support for francis in terms of understanding part of probably on the

political map. when has to keep in mind that francis comes into the policy precisely because of the administrative and political failure to a large degree of the spoke that remain sweet in the vatican after he leaves a policy. so i think that although these are 2 people with very, very different, very divergent political and ideological positions. i think that at the same time it's quite clear that the warm relation extends beyond the specifically personal personal report. now been and it became the 1st pope to resign in 600 years. is that what significance does that? i think that that's actually a very, very significant matter. and i think that it's very significant that we are being warren, of the, of the frail stayed off, you know, a pope that is no longer pope. so to say, this is something that obviously some precedent because bulbs died before you know, to back a that the, that the papacy and to let another pope come in. but i think it also points to the

fact that even for friends is it is important to point out that this remains and a very large figure within the institutional and religious religious profile of the church. so i think it's clear that with the, with the resignation of benedict, the church underwent a very, very significant change, including the fact that it no longer can be said to be simply a vertical monarchy. because now there is a 2nd fear of power, which francis was very happy to show somebody that if not, as i said before, if not officially, none the less spiritually morally. i had actually authority. now, if you look at the papacy of the, of benedict what stands out for you? i think it, you know, it's very difficult to say, i mean what, how is it that it's going to be remembered even 10 years later. i think that this still being debated, i think that to some degree is at, but the see that was probably ill fit for the time seal suited for the time. so i mean, this was an academic that had various academic concerns. he came out of reagan's

virtuous a professor, then he became essentially a head theologian in the, in the her, in the, in that one of the main theological. but he saw the vatican even asked the church was actually in a state of complete disarray institutionally, but also politically, where we actually saw you know, that the sex scandals and we saw sort of different kinds of affairs with the vatican bank and so on. and so forth, whereas friends is somebody that came mean and very, very quickly essentially try to gather sort of the forest around try to circle the wagons so to say and try to like rebuild the flock. this difference in style means that it's very difficult to think of benedict are outside of the context of those failures are religious vascos when a martin got there. thank you very much martin. let's have a look now at some of the other headlines of today is european allens has resumed slights to the rebel house region, also t cry, it fellows, a visit by the,

the opium government delegation to the area on tuesday. it was the 1st such trip since a peace deal was signed last month. aimed at ending a brutal 2 year conflict of what was in north korea's leader kim jong on has presented new goals to further bolster his military. he made the remarks that a meeting of top party officials where key policies are being set for the coming year. north korea conducted a record breaking number of weapons test this year, ratcheting up regional friction. the death toll from devastating floods in the philippines has no reason to 25. thousands of others are still missing. heavy rains over christmas weekend. inundated eastern central and southern parts of the country. authorities say many homes and roads were damaged and more than 80000 people are in shelters. the southern ukrainian city of harrison was a scene of jubilation in november when ukrainian troops pushed the russian occupies

out. but in recent days, it had as been the target of intensifying russian attacks. grants, military says russia fired $33.00 rockers that civilian targets in the 24 hours going into wednesday, hundreds of civilians. our fleet, as russian forces pound populated areas with mortars and artillery care sol, as is city slowly, being reduced to rubble. key says moscow is deploying more tanks and armored vehicles to the area and further stepping up its aerial bombardment of the city. people here if already seem more than their fair share of this brutal war, but that in recent days and nights, things have become even worse. yeah, i get like you yeah. this woman says she lost her son in an overnight grade. for the show to the room and i must have felt that something would go wrong in the

morning because i urged him to wake up and leave the house. but he didn't. that was a lives a ruined race. both rushes written in. this shelling is destroying hassan's critical infrastructure and taking a massive toll on civilian life. a motor attack on christmas eve killed 11 people and injured dozens more among the dead, a social worker, a butcher, and a woman selling mobile sim cards. every day civilians at the cities central market some who have held out here. now say they can't take it any longer. they getting out while they still can. this is really done, doug. we stayed this whole time and thought it would pass. but when the home nix dwells and my father's home with it, it was too scary. just last month there was celebrates, received, and as soon as keith retook the regional center. now it appears moscow is trying to

retake it either that or simply raise it to the ground. the us and canada now digging out from what's been called the blizzard of the century. an emergency has been declared for new york state, which has been bearing the brunt of that snowstorm. more than 50 people have died across the united states. snow has buried parts of buffalo, new york, and emergency crews are struggling to reach trapped residents. some of the dead have been found frozen in cars and snow barks. a lighthouse in case in ice in across the continent. winter storm elliot has left striking scenes of beauty in its wake and frightening scenes of devastation, radio. my current state and military police have been called into the hard hit city

of buffalo to ensure drivers keep off the roads. a driving ban had been issued earlier, but some were still found dead in their cars. so what people are standard a lot of roads that are completely blocked right now that have no access whatsoever . and people are trying to drive into alleys, roads, or tried to get into these neighborhoods. and they have, please, please, your the mayor bag. i'm begging stay whole the soon has also cause chaos for travelers during the holiday season. popular budget carry a southwest airlines cancelled more than 10000 scheduled flight, leaving passengers stranded and scrambling to find love's luggage. so for airports to airline, or 3 days late. as residents try and dig their homes out from the snow

or story, it is a warning that more bad weather may be on its way. rain and a rapid rising temperature in the forecasts which could cause flooding. it's been called the blizzard of the century and will certainly be remembered here for a long time. with the holiday season still here, many of us and that includes me, are finding it rather hard to get off the sofa and exercise. now you, as researchers might have found that it's not all just down to sheer willpower. in a study on mice published in the science journal nature, they discovered that gut bacteria appear to be playing a key role in motivating animals for humans as well. to get them over got bacteria play a fundamental role in human health. but research is at the university of pennsylvania investigating exercise didn't set out to give the mike her by him yet another starring role. they studied mice to try and understand what biology can

tell us about the motivation to work out. according to the world health organization, more than one in for adults worldwide, don't get enough physical activity to stay healthy. the u. s. scientists wanted to find out if mice could show them why. what we did in the studies. we took a very large cohort or for genetically diverse my, and we profile there exercise capacity. the research has looked at what impact them . i says genes metabolism, blood chemistry, and got flora had on their willingness to exercise. they did that by altering the rodents, got mike her by hymns. some were given no got bacteria retool, others were given the floor of top performing mice, others of lazy mice. the animals could run as much as they liked on wheels and their cages. what was clear from our experiments is that if we later michael by an overlap models or if we use a champion also doesn't have,

i'm going to start with exercise capacity is reduced by about 50 percent. i'm so this is a really, really strong overall contribution that contributes to basically half of the animal's axis has performance. after running on the wheel, the mass is got my cape. i am cause don't mean to surgeon it's gray matter. plus the new transmitter that drives the brains reward system. the discovery of this connection between the gus in the brain and how it influences exercise is new and could prove groundbreaking. the sciences i catching, that would hold true for humans. in fact, the, the circuits in the brain that control motivated behavior are actually streaming concern between mice and humans and, and many other mammalian species. so we hypothesize that if this is a very ancient and evolutionarily conserved mechanism that drives the motivation practice as it might be present in humans as well as study. and humans is already underway to see if got bacteria could make us exercise. just like the mice for i get out of this chair. i have

a reminder for you of the top story we're following for you. but frances has visited his predecessor benedict, the 16th, whom frances as is very sick, the vatican confirm those 95 year old benedict condition is worsening. german, born for the pontiff resigned in 2013, become the 1st pope to do so in 600 years. and i said from me and the news team from our level up they'd for you at the top of the hour. don't go away. business is up next with stephen beardsley. don't miss that. and also there's of course old upside with the w dot called out office in berlin for which is the end of the pandemic in site. we show what it could look like