ah ah ah this is the w news live from berlin that germany name's a new defense minister bodies please story us will succeed. a christina lumber act who resigned yesterday. he takes over the post at a critical time with berlin, under pressure to boost military support for you crate. also on the program, european commission president address is world leaders on the opening day of the world. economic forum and promise is continuing and steadfast. a you support for you create china population falls for the 1st time in decades is birth rate is

slumped interface with mounting financial pressures and shifting social attitudes. and we look at the untapped water supplies that could help drought stricken communities in the form of africa. study finds the ground water reserves are increasing despite long periods without brain are better, better grown, more common ah, ah, i feel gale. welcome to the program. germany has a new defense minister, polish pissed on us will replace christina lambert was lambert resigned to yesterday following a series of contrivances for last decade. mr. historic has been interior minister, a minister of the german state of lois saxony. german chancellor, lashona said mister per store assist, assertiveness and experience. paid him the right choice for commander in chief of

the country's armed forces, the blunders, her wounded van. lucy, the bundeswehr must adapt the new situation that has arisen with the russian war of aggression stung. it is important to me to involve the soldiers are very closely and make sure they are part of the process is hiding and submit fully him. and they can count on me to stand up for them whenever necessary is for the stand. i want to make the bundles where stronger for the times ahead. if you decide to fall as get more for my chief political correspondent, nina, harder welcome at neither. so tell us more than who is a boris historic and what does he bring to this job? a buddhist historian has been a lower saxon knees, interior minister for 10 years now that is one of germany, 16 states. so he has experience in what it means to run a big machine, a big ministry with a lot of bureaucracy in an important state. and that is vital because of course,

the bonus there and the defense ministry, they're facing massive challenges and they're facing a press, had to undergo massive reforms. and they do now need somebody at their helm who can push through unpopular decisions as well. and boris for stories is known as somebody who doesn't shy away from conflict. so he brings definitely those leadership skills. he comes from all of shows his own party, the s p d. so the social democrats and he in, within the espied he is considered to be one of the conservative ref representative . some people am have accused him of being a law and order person because he does take a tough stance. sometimes when it comes to defending the rule of law and then also boris piss tories and perhaps most importantly served in the military when he was a young man. and that is not something that you can take for granted, especially not within the s p d. but also, it's not a prerequisites or here in this country to have served in the military to then become the defense minister. and that was definitely something that changed now

with russia's war on ukraine. now, one thing i do have to add about boris herb historian says, appointment is that some people are criticizing the fact that all of shows no longer has gender parity. in his cabinet, germany now has 9 male ministers and 7 female ministers rights. while they are in advance for most of those whose opponents can fly for him is doing well. i mean, how is his appointment being received? it did come as a surprise, i would say almost to everybody and not just to ask political pundits here because of course there had been rumors for weeks and months or christina lumped a resignation, didn't come as a surprise so, so people had been discussing names, forrest as stories was not on that list, and that is the main point that the opposition are now criticizing. they're saying will have towards didn't really have anybody to go to. and he chose somebody's essentially from the 2nd a rank. but they also criticize him for not having an international profile yet

they say he will have to do a very quick m undergo a very quick learning curve if he wants to tackle those issues. and some people, as i say, criticize the fact that he's a man, not a woman, right? so change of the top of germany, defense ministry, but no change in the country has policy on ukraine while he will have term land to swim instantly after his official appointment. this thursday, because the u. s. defense secretary will be here in berlin, and he'll want to talk how best to supply ukraine with weapons. how best the west considered as a support ukraine, militarily. there is a big, high level meeting of international defense ministers on friday at ramstein military base, or where we're hearing that there is a bit of movement. germany could agree to give its consent, potentially, so that other countries can deliver combat tanks to ukraine. now that is of course, something where germany has come under a lot of pressure in recent weeks and months. germany so far is not willing to

deliver those combat tanks itself, but might give its consent so that others can deliver those german made tanks. but whatever those decisions imply are all have sites. the chancellor has made it clear that they lie with him, no matter who leads the defense ministry. thank you about nina. archery political correspondent, me, the harder the president of the european commission has promised that support for ukraine will continue for as long as it's needed. addressing the world economic forum in the swiss town of davis are still a funder lion praise the ears response to russian aggression in ukraine. and reminded her audience that a europe had taken less than a year to free itself from what she called a dangerous addiction to russian energy supplies her address or follow that of ukraine's 1st lady elaine, as the landscape. it was the landscape called on the international community to continue its support for ukraine. years more from us uniform delay. there

will be no impunity for these russian crimes. and my friends there will be no let up in our steadfast support to ukraine from helping to we stop power heating and water to preparing for the long term effort of reference reconstruction. i just want to say my dearest alana, and i think i can speak on behalf of this whole and this audience here. we are in it for as long as it takes and stand by our ukranian friends. get more than from chief international editor richard walker. welcome richard. so ukraine, very much at the top of the agenda at a focal point for us on the line. once again. yeah, absolutely. really. this just pervades so much at the moment, is we just heard when talking about the next german defense minister. they're going

to be really focused on this with a lot funder line making. this is opening address at, at diverse and getting across that message with ukraine's 1st lady in the audience . we just heard her addressing her directly. they're just saying we are with you as long as it takes. but for the line also using this opportunity to try to put the case across, that europe is actually dealt very well in her take on the situation with the invasion in providing support to ukraine, both financial and military support. but also in this huge project of try to wean itself off. russian fossil fuels, which had become the major supplier of particularly natural gas to germany and other european countries. and sort of developing away from this dependency which did, which had existed over many years in record time. so, so trying to put across that as in her rise from the european point of view,

this effort to support ukraine and learn the lessons of what's going on with this invasion that europe is doing well on that front. and what else do that for you? well, i think it was interesting to see what she had to say about climate change, which she linked of course, to, to this transition away from, from fossil fuels. but, but the new economy that the world is entering into where clean energy play such a huge role. and this is not just an economic question, is also a very political question. and the question that relates to trade policy. now background to this is the united states last year, the bike and ministration put through legislation called the inflation reduction that which wasn't so much about inflation as about climate change. and this was all about trying to encourage companies in the united states to get into clean energy to get into electric cars. that sort of thing. lot tax breaks that sort of subsidies and to, and incentives to companies to get into those businesses in the us. the europeans

cried foul and said, well, this is anti competitive practice, because this is how you know, our companies don't have so much access to this. now, she has announced essentially europe version of this called net 0 industry acts that european commission wants to get through. and said that the europeans are really trying to negotiate with the americans to, to try to change the american rules. but there's a risk here that you have the, you in the u. s. quite at cross purposes. and the huge projects are trying to turn the energy system, turn the economy green with each side, sort of supporting its own industries. and that could be a sort of a driver of this sort of era of globalization that some economists warning about that could potentially be a risk to economic growth in the is ahead. and we like to hear much about china this mission. yeah, well as a funder line, talks about china, it with a view to some of these issues. but we also heard from a leading member of the chinese government, michael, you her who is a vice premier there so she can ping chinese president. didn't show up, but you,

her did come the 1st in person, a 10 d, a devil for, for years. now, also the pandemic from china. and he was very much in sort of reassurance mode. there's, of course, a lot of concern about the, the security tensions, the sort cold war atmosphere between the u. s. and china at the moment. there's also concern about what's going on in china's economy. if at this very unstable exit from this 0 covey policy, there's been a sort of air of crisis around chinese, huge real estate sector. chinese economy has not been growing very well. and there's been concern that she, jim ping is trying to turn the economy into almost sort of marxist direction with greater state control on things. then in recent years, and he was coming out and saying essentially, don't worry, we're getting back on track back to growth. and we're going to keep our economy open, and that was a very important message that he wanted evidently to get to. the lead is

a big business. who is basically the big audience that you have a diverse of course, they will of laptop that message as a signal that the child is not retreating to some sort of, some sort of old school communist attitude towards the economy. thank you for that . international editor, richard will thank take a look at some, some headlines from around the world. now. the trial of the exile, belushi and opposition leaders of atlanta to kind of sky opened in minsk. she's being tried in her absence and use of speech at the world economic forum to denounce court proceedings as a fast. let's take it off sky. a claim to victory in the 2020 presidential election is now facing range of charges, including high treason, a former commander with the russian paramilitary, wagner group. andre midvale f as claimed asylum in norway after deserted crossing the border. in this video posted in december, he criticized the groups operations. he entered no way last friday and faces

charges of entering the country illegally. russia has announced that it will make major changes to its armed forces over the next 4 years. as well as structural reform, defense ministers are going to show group. i said moscow would strengthen its naval aerospace and strategic missile capabilities. the news followed several serious setbacks during it to year long invasion of ukraine. versus if you do have the death toll from a russian missile strike on an apartment building in the ne pro, in eastern grade as reason to 44. after rescue workers to pull the body of a child from the rubble, emergency services are still working to find them on 2 dozen other residents who are still missing. the bombing was one of russia's deadliest strikes on civilians. the cranes president is calling for faster deliveries of heavy weapons from the west. in the wake of the attack, which is described as a worker or russia,

that repeated assaults on ukraine's energy grid in recent months of force. many cities to schedule power cuts to save energy. in the capital case, still hope to 3000000 people sit your authorities have restricted public lighting at night, leading to significant consequences for people on the streets. the w sonya found the car ventured out on a dark key night and sent during the day. despite the war, the ukrainian capital can look and see quite normal but as night falls, key of slips into almost darkness. streetlights are off and at many crossings, traffic lights as well. the dark mix, a downright risky for those on the streets, booked on wilkes that are food delivery service, mtf,

taking orders to customers around the city. go few isn't until 11 pm. so much of his work is in the inky talk. voting for all the solar washer work has become much tougher because of the lack of light . this is futile. it's hard to ride in the dark, oscar, and if a person doesn't have reflectors in them, i just can't see them so sure. once you have to be careful because they could be people on the street, assuming that the kids are booking and there are potholes and open drains, which you could fall into their mortgage. the theme motiv with a yamazik with their for their shorter both with griffin look a month ago, walked on, had an accident. when he is a curb in the dark, he smashed all the reflectors on his bicycle. the streets in the ukrainian capital are clearly not safe at night, and that's especially thought for those navigating the city on foot. now the deputy head of keeps traffic, police told me the car accidents involving pedestrians had gone up by

a whopping 80 percent since last october. that's where the city was forced to introduce rolling blackouts in response to russia's debilitating miss. silent don't attack on ukraine's energy infrastructure. everyone here has a story about the doc. holling there was spoken, it's really dangerous. i'm wondering how i can cross the road to the other side. but shall i go further and look for proper crossing? or should i follow another person? so we are in a group of farmers subaru. i bought a glow, stick color for my dog, because i can't seem when there's no light in the park. it's very convenient or yeah, all of them love it. it was dark at the crossing over for people approach me and punched me in the nose and snatched my phones from my pocket. what was the wallet? what telephone of the brawley. but living in the city shrouded in darkness can also habits of sites. bench and there's a bit of intrigue and mystery in the air yourself, especially when it's close to the curfew and there's no one around with them. it's

quite interesting to ride along dark, empty streets, listen and quite literally disappear into the night. or china has long been the most populous country in the world, but now our official figure shows population has begun to shrink. we counted the 850000 fewer people the end of 2022 than in the previous year. an aging population cover coupled with a low birth rate, means the countries are facing consequences from this demographic change. a busy beijing st belies a burgeoning problem. for the 1st time since 1961, china's population has fallen. birth rates have been sinking for years. many experts, blaine, china's decades long punitive one child policy that was only abandoned in $2016.00 an hour. beijing is now trying to encourage families to have more children,

but many chinese say they simply can't afford to either there's a lot of pressure to have kids, but who dares to have kids? the unemployment rate is so high cove destroyed everything. there's nothing we can do next year. we'll have a declining growth again, those out so that we feel that the economic pressure in young people is quite high, especially for those from outside of beijing living here. here that's already difficult. oh, for those of us born in the eighty's, there's more of us that are from one child family as young boy has a lot of pressure when it comes to taking care of your parents out in improving your quality of life in the future. the laura, you have audi alley, for decades, china has relied on its vast population to drive economic growth. now it's confronted with an aging shrinking workforce. un experts predict this is just the start of a long decline. with india soon set to overtake china as the world's most populous

nation. let's take a look at some or after those the top stories. climate actress grass a ton berg has joined demonstrators in the west of germany for renewed protest against expansion of an open cast. coal mine in the area rally took place in the village of k and back not far from the flashpoint village of a luther us in the north run west failure. it comes just a day after authorities that clear that luther us of climate protested u. s. date of california is continued to be puzzled by unusually heavy rain, causing bud slides and flooding cities from sand, from san francisco to san diego. on monday, a series of stores killed at least 19 people in the san diego area. and so that way, scores of houses, thousands of people were ordered to leave their homes. now hotel in paris has been lit up with a message of support for the protest movement in iran, french words for women, life, freedom as well underground day. it's the worst drought in 40 years here in somalia

. makeshift camps like this when near the town of bye door has sprung up on mass. as hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee bone dry conditions. many are herders whose lifeline is their animals. they totally depend on regular rainfalls, slim of the we will come her, our bus, the list i think is becoming very difficult for liberal to sustain the lives them in the room turned droughts in the horn of africa are becoming more free water, scarce region can no longer rely on the long range between march and may and the short rains between october and december. whilst livestock to come, and more than 37000000 people in the horn of africa are facing acute hunger. people might be sitting on top of their lifesaver,

huge amounts of groundwater. scientists found that most countries in africa would actually have enough underground water supply for more than 50 years. plus, the study shows this water storage is even increasing despite the poor rainy seasons. this is because of the now more common heavy rain showers. they can most effectively refilled the water stored in the ground to become ground water. rainfall needs to be intense enough for the water to quickly infiltrate the soil. these short but heavy downpours fill up dry riverbeds. the water then seeps into underground deposits. these findings are extremely exciting, says the agra economist, alaric sandra, who has had years of experience working in africa, come up. there's a great opportunity in a huge untapped potential. if you can access that, you can increase yields in a fairly short time by $100.00 to maybe even 400 per cent. so there's

a very big potential to increase production in africa. yep. what approval he offered. the world bank has allocated money to explore this and the private sector is already drilling in some places if tapped into on a large scale ground water could be a game changer for the continents most vulnerable regions. let's look at this with a michael singer who is professor of physical geography at cardiff university. i'm one of the authors of that study. welcome to the w professor. so how easy is it going to be to access the ground water stores for on a sort of industrial scale? well, it's going to require a significant investment has to be coordinated across the region at national and sub national and you can rural levels. so the, the money needs to be there, the technical know how and then some knowledge about where water might be more

accessible than others. right. and is that likely to happen? do you think? well, we're making recommendations suggesting that there is a water storage under ground that should be looked at and investigated by the, the correct authority is water resource authorities, etc. and also international funding bodies that might end up investing in this sort of project. but we don't really get involved in the sort of details of implementation. so has this was always been that you think or is it a product based changed weather patterns? well we know that this region has always had very intense rainfall. when the rain does occur, and that in some seasons, that extreme rainfall seems to be increasing, which could be a symptom of climate change. but associated with that, we also see declining total amounts of rain that are being delivered to the region

. so the 2 were kind of in opposite directions to one another. the droughts create challenges as your previous story mentioned. people scrambling for water resources for pasture land for their animal life, dock death. but also very poor crop yields. whereas the deeper storage of intense rainfall under ground could actually support a long term water resource that could be leveraged for a whole range of different activities if used wisely and do it. and if this across the whole of the continent is it, is it just restricted to certain that so our study really focused on the horn of africa, dry land. so can yet somalia in ethiopia, which are the area experiencing these extreme drought conditions where we've had 5 successive seasons of rain in the 6th one that's projected for the march. april may

rainy season. so it's a really dire situation where we see wildlife death life dr. and people who are moving into great food insecurity. so does this mean the scientist now know what to look for? so that, so that more of these discoveries can be made in other water stopped regions on the continent? i think so, i think we've pointed out a way of, of analyzing the historical record to try to understand how water storage underground is changing and what that might do to support future populations to become more resilient to the effects of climate change and briefly then so are we talking about this water being used for drinking and washing or are we talking about it being used for farming? and i would say in the 1st instance, sharla wells can support drinking water supplies for rural communities. maybe each

well supporting $2.00 to $5000.00 people. but over the long term there could be white scale investment in, in pumping force support of agriculture, right? although, you know, there are potential problems associated with that can lead to over pumping as we've seen. and other parts of well could talk if you thank you so much for joining us, professor michael singer from college university. thank you. a sensual updates. i'll have more world news at the top of the hour. melissa china has the don't we have news asia in just a moment, taking a closer look at china's population decline. happy with

who a a beginning of a story that moves us and takes us along for the ride.

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decline.