a venture full of hardships, dangers, death. but children's journey around the world starts january 19th. ah ah, doesn't stink at what you news lie from berlin. russia's war on ukraine dominates the 1st big speeches at the world, economic forum and dub, with which of the 2 pages the world expect to reach climate neutrality. if a can't even stop the burning down of ho ukrainian cities,

it cranes 1st lady makes a renewal, please, for support from the gathered leaders. also coming up germany names, a new defense minister, forrest historian, will take over at a critical time with berlin, under pressure to boost military support for you. craig and prosecutors investigating a major e. you corruption scandal strike a deal with a key suspect for a new law maker, antonio pumps area will reveal details of the bribes in exchange for a lighter sentence. ah, i'm the cough really shower viewers on p b. s in the united states and all around the world. of course, it's good to have you with us. 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 and the swiss resort of davos was in

a funny line, told the gathered political and business leaders that europe took less than a year to free itself from what she called a dangerous addiction to a russian energy. her address followed that of ukraine's 1st lady alena the landscape. the ukraine house in davos, the horrors of war made visible with photos, videos installations on presentations during the international business gathering. ukraine on the russian war of aggression are dominating the summit alongside the major issue of climate change. our generation hm. totaling point conform to quite poorly existential problems. climate change expert, traditional financial nuclear possible insurance, or even more extreme poverty and virus. the ukranian 1st lady has come to devils to speak out on behalf of her country and to draw

attention to the dramatic situation in ukraine. yes, the thought of the 60, how does the world expect to reach climate neutrality shipper if it can't even stop the burning down of how ukrainian cities? this is what russia does with its artillery missiles. iranian drones, if you will know that russian aggression was never intended to stop at ukrainian borders, seems good to you. this war copper grass is an ignite, wider crisis. if ukraine loses, if show has never russia, aggression is driving. you appear nations to help you. crane you commission president earth lavonda lion outline massive support from the european union. we work hard with ukraine on any topic that is helping the economy. we have for example, the security lanes. 60 percent of the grain of ukraine has been exported via these

roots are violent through the european union. oh, for example, we have synchronized are an energy grit, electricity grit with the ukrainians. so we're doing everything to keep the economy up and running, to support financially, to support militarily and of course morale. but the war in ukraine has found the flames of energy and food crises. the question now dominating this year's world economic forum is what more can be done about it. and we can now speak to alexi on to ranko. he is a member of the ukraine in parliament and currently in davos in switzerland. mr. gone to ranko. welcome to d w. you're there at the world economic forum, demanding more international support for ukraine. what kind of pledges would you like to see from the global elite assembled there? it's very important today we're speaking about world economic forum and world economies suffers from this war. and if you want to finish this war and to finish

it quickly, it's absolutely possible what we need for this, just to provide ukraine with modern rapid re, lower port tanks, long range missiles, too high marshes, heavy drones fighters and ukraine will finish everything in mums and that will be the benefit of the whole world. that's what we are telling to our partners here. speaking about volt economy and the situation. after weeks of hesitation, the u. s. is now announced, it will send battle tanks to ukraine, nato allies. we'll discuss all of this this week. what do you expect to come out of that meeting? are you hoping to, to make an impact while you're in davos before leaders, and eventually go and meet here in germany than either in a week wherever, thankful for all support we are receiving. and we are thankful to their native kingdom, which again shows leadership in support of ukraine. and they 1st decided to give to

great and more than more than west and tongues heavy tongues. that's very important for us, but it's absolutely not enough. if we want to finish this work quickly, these 12 or 24 tanks, we need to much more russia started this war against ukraine with 13000 tanks. so 13000. just imagine this number. so you understand the 12122030 tongues. it's not enough. so we hope that there will be like president due to that whom i met to this morning in your greenhouse, who said that there will be a coalition. and i hope the germany will be very important part of this coalition. and i hope tomorrow the chancellor sean your, in his address on the wall, the comic forum will announce the germany finally supports the delivery of player part turns to ukraine and will take active part in this to, for us to receive no really needed number of tanks. to change the situation on the ground, the mayor of fidelity clear, go, wrote today,

after meeting germany's economy, mister administer. that positive decisions have been made. good news is coming. do you think he's talking about tanks there? keep fingers crossed. i hope so. we're looking for tomorrow's announcement and tomorrow species of chunks or shoals. and that is very important to show that we really want to finish these war. and we really want to restore international order because we are now in davos world economy. but economy cannot leave without the law without the rule of law and the same in the world without international law, the world will be like a jungles we shoe, which will be very dangerous for everybody and to restore international law, we need to restore to return the integrity of ukraine, it means to kick off the russian forces from our country and for these with desperately need. rest in military help include and heavy armor. so we are waiting for tomorrow speech for a chance to charlotte. and in general, i want to tell you,

i want to see germany to be a leader. i want to see you asked politics from germany with a scenting key. if we had germany can really show that it is the biggest country year of the biggest economy and very important leader which is moving ahead, which is restoring security and which is moving the walton europe, to the better, better situation. i want to talk about something else that was announced today that ukraine had recorded more than 9000 civilian casualties and 80000 russian war crying. how are you hoping to be able to hold russia accountable? fortunately, i think this number is much, much more just to these attack on me per our city, which happened just days ago for more than 40 killed, including like either a 4th of this families. it's on my twitter, you can find it in social media, families with small children, which way just killed in the kitchen when there were just sitting like those people

who are watching us. and it's much more than $29000.00 people. unfortunately, just in the city of maroon, may be we're speaking about dozing, of thousands of civilians killed. we don't know exactly because it's still occupied by russia and we want, we need to take russia risk accountable for these. they should be responsible for what they did, not only do for justice for ukrainians, but to prevent such things such atrocities. to happen again, anywhere on the planet, any criminal should know. these things cannot be tolerated and everybody will be punished for such things. that is so important election, contra ranko, member of the ukrainian parliament. thank you for your time today. thank you very much. and desert are from russia, is notorious wagner, mercenary group has fled to norway after allegedly witnessing the killing of

soldiers unwilling to fight in ukraine. alex same inventive made a dramatic escape across the water and is now falling for asylum. he commanded a troop of ex convicts recruited find the wagner group. he said he fled after seeing most of his unit die in the intense fighting around the ukrainian city of mood. and after witnessing the execution of the desert, the wagner group has taken on an increasingly prominent role in russia's invasion of ukraine, madrid of recorded details of his time in ukraine before his escape. let's listen and combine. yeah. but as you mean, contract for the company changed my contract if you knew that's really without asking for my consent, they extended it to 6 months. and then to 8 months, the more for mr. some one year after that, i left about authorization because i did not like the things that started happening there. that i just took my name off the prisons arrived. strange things happened

was the killings by own people in the wagner security for the work on the v. and we can now and talk to katrina, doxey. she is an associate director and associates fellow for the trans national threats project at the center for strategic and international studies in washington . miss dock the 1st up. what is the wagner group and what is its role in russia war against ukraine? i thank you for having me the wagner group, and what we commonly referred to as a private military company or pmc works closely with the russian government, although it is not technically linked to the government. so even though we call it a company, it's actually better thought of as a loose network of different companies. shell companies, financial intermediaries, basically a set of businesses that are all tied back to you getting promotion. who's a russian oligarch? close to black men who and, and that are typically designed as

a possible viewer in ukraine. we've seen the wagner group go from operating in more of a shadowy paramilitary contact. soon after the invasion. now more or less acting as an informal unit of the russian military, despite. * not technically being affiliated with the military or state. madrid is the 1st wagner defector renaud off, at least to flee ukraine. and he has promised to cooperate with the authorities. how crucial could his testimony be to the investigation of war crimes being committed? allegedly in ukraine? yes, his testimony in terms of war crimes and of wagner groups, broader operations could be extremely important to western nation. he would be able to bring us insights on the conditions in the field and how things are going now, but also on how the wagner roots operations have evolved over time. and this

includes the shift last fall to bringing in a lot of new recruits out of prison and bring on conscripts with very little experience as opposed to partners prior make up with largely relied on individuals who had previously served in the russian military or the intelligence services who brought some level of prior experience and training to the role. now it seems that as morale continues to apply on the front lines in ukraine, they're also dealing with the added trouble of having troops that are largely inexperienced, that lock discipline and that are more and more treated pretty openly as cannon fodder. we don't have much time, but i do want to know if you think that we'll see more of the factors as the war drum on and wagner fighters are seemingly forced to keep fighting. i think we may continue to see more defectors, and particularly as we see more individuals fighting with wagner,

who were conscript and or only joined us. because the alternative was to spend many years or decades in a russian prison. you have more and more people on the front lines who not only are suffering and poor conditions and with or treatment as part of the vulgar group, but also are not ideal logically linked to the groups mission or the russian government mission. so much as they are to their own well being. so i think it's certainly likely that will be more defectors or even more individuals, if captured by ukrainian troops who are willing to give up more information in exchange for some guarantee of 50. katrina doxy of the c s i s and washington. thank you so much for your time. let's have a look now at so more stories making headlines around the world today. the trial of bella, rosie an exiled opposition later, said lena t kennel sky has begun. immense kennel sky has been tried on her absence and use the speech at the world economic forum to denounce the court proceedings as

a farce. man to handle sky claimed victory in the 2020 presidential election, but is now facing a range of charges including high treason climate activist grants to mark as among a number of demonstrators who have been detained in the west. german village of loots, of work to part and a protest against the expansion of an open cast coal mine in the area. the renewed protest comes just a day after authorities managed to clear climate protestors out of hundreds of people have gathered for the funeral of prominent kenyan l. g, b t q campaigner edwin shelba. a 25 year old model and fashion designer was found murdered. 2 weeks ago, his body dunked in a metal box, writes campaigners in kenya and abroad have condemned his violent murder and called for improved efforts to protect members of the l. g. b t q. community member germany has named a new defense minister orest pastorius will replace christine alumni to resign.

following a series of controversies for the last decade, historian has been interior minister of the german state of lower saxony. he now faces the formidable task of overhauling germany's armed forces and overseeing key decisions on military support to ukraine. boris pastorius is an old hand with a new job. taking the reins of japanese military during times of war and europe. he told reporters he was ready for the task, come yard, dean, wadell, disability and respectfully enormous task. before me finish the ministry of defense . it is already a great challenge in peacetime, and even more in times when germany is involved in a war, indirectly or am, i am aware of the responsibility and the great significance and em all the more grateful that i have been entrusted with it. to get hartford on that, i will throw myself into this challenge with 150 percent from day one. along for

the last 10 years, pastorius herself does interior minister in the state of law saxony. furnishing a reputation as reliable and unafraid to speak his mind. chancellor, allah sholtes hopes those qualities will help steer the armed forces through considerable change. s. mitchell, i'm fine. don't. he is not only a friends and good politician her possess, but also some one who has a lot of experience and security policy fruit there. the who has worked very openly and closely in his previous function with the bonus via on to and to also possesses the strength and calmness needed for, for such a big task. at the face of the current changes, pastorius will have plenty to do at a ministry known as a korea keller, modernizing the military, strengthening, fighting forces and handling weapons supplies to ukraine. opposition figures

have called on him to turn germany's site vendor or turning point into a reality. so he needs a steep learning curve and he has to start quite soon because the expectations on germany, arnold lowering the r a will increase in the next months. therefore, he has to show leadership and to bring the site and when the into practical terms and practical experience for the others. the story is will have no time to settle in his 1st big appointment, a meeting with his u. s. counterpart in berlin. later this week a former lawmaker implicated and corruption scandal that's in golf. the european parliament has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. belgian prosecutor say that former m. p here antonio, i'm sorry. who's in custody? and brussels has a great to work with the authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence. he is one of 4 people with links to the parliament charged with participating in the activities of a criminal organization, money laundering,

and corruption. mystery of city. nasty w correspondent and jack parrot and tell us more about the deal. the authorities chuck with antonia m theory. well, it's a real real bombshell in this investigation. and in this case essentially what antonio pansy has agreed to do is to tell the authorities everything about the corruption ring that is that right at the heart of this scandal, how they worked, how they financed how they was structured. and very crucially, he's agreed to tell them the involvement of known and unknown people that he himself admits to bribing. so this means that this investigation is very likely to get much, much broader. there will be some very nervous people in brussels and probably around the world are watching and waiting to see what pans ary is willing or must actually is part of this deal now, or to tell the authorities in exchange, he's going to have a prison sentence. we do know that he will be put in prison,

but we don't know the length of it that it will be reduced. also, he'll receive a fine and all of his profits from the corruption scandal will be confiscated from him, which the authorities have said today are estimated to be about a 1000000 euros. do we know what his role in the scandal was? what information can he actually provide? well, he has been right at the heart of this is a former m e p. he left, he started this angio called fight impunity, which became sort of a shell organization last the allegation anyway. and that that was funnelling money from cutter and morocco, according to the investigation into different places and included them as part of this sort of umbrella came in, the vice president, the sitting vice president who's now the nice did of the european parliament, eva kylie, her partner francesca georgie, who was pansy's assistant and another and you had that they shared the same office with. so he really is at the heart of this. and that's the big question. how many more countries, how many more people may be involved in this scandal related to the investigation

and the in the, in the information that he's now going to give over to investigators. this really is quite a big bombshell, but probably the reality is there must be so much evidence against him that the only way he could get to reduce his sentence was to cooperate with the authorities . a lot of people watching this very closely, jack, the shock runs deep in the ear parliament even weeks after the corruption scandal surrounding than vice president. kylie became public let right back to you. after a closer look at the fall out, they are back at work in strasburg, but not back to business. as usual. the corruption scandal dabbed as katara gate continues to royal the european parliament threatening to undermine the very credibility of the institution. a lot of damage has been done to the parliament due to that corruption case. but of course it's corruption. it's a crime. oh, so justice, the belgium and european justice will make their job. whenever you meet people,

they ask you about the corruption, please. i'm not about to political work and i think this is sir, a big damage or in the repetition, in the work of more than 700 members. in december, belgium police raid at homes and offices of incumbent and former member herself to parliament bags of ashworth found 4 people among them. eva k lee, one of the parliament's vice presidents were arrested. they have been accused of taking bribes in exchange for favours for co, tar and morocco, accusations the countries deny heidi hotel is a finish politician. and as kaylee used to be vice president of the european parliament, she did not fit very well into the opinions of her other social democratic colleagues in the bureau of the european parliament where we were colleagues. so that i could observe that them, she had her own way. some questions about if she had some sort of private interest,

maybe sometimes went through my head, rightly as a consequence of this candle, the parliament's president, robert tar metzler, has proposed new rules against corruption, including better control of who has access to the chamber and its members safe, emmy peas would also have to declare their assets and who they meet when discussing legislation, a good start says daniel point who is representing german greens. but he points out that the problem was never elac of rules is lots of the rules we have are good compared to the member states. we have reasonably high standards of transparency and integrity in the new institutions. but we also need to enforce them. and for that we need an independent body to check on on ethics rules. would an independent body do the trick? there are different proposals on the table with some members of the european parliament warning the freedom of their mandate needs to be protected too. but given the seriousness of the accusations, most your say now is the time for action to restore the trust lost in this candle.

now is the time to act jackie of guy, your air to the ground. what are the consequences being discussed there in brussels? well this is it, this 14 point plan that roberta met, solar, the european parliament president has outline state could actually change some things there. awesome, very interesting details. i think probably a lot of people missed and one of the things that she proposed is ending the ability of form or any piece like antonio pan, very from being able to access the parliament. he was in there doing speeches in parliament committees and hearings and stuff and, and that is just been a normal part and parcel thing of parliamentary life. the m p 's even once they've lost their seat, can continue returning. there's also a plan to register all official meetings that relate to reports that are going through the parliament and oversee the issue around category visa liberalization and their access to our space. all of that has been sort of the questions around the corruption scandal that, that, that this scandal has,

has really focused on. and i think one of the issues will be resistance from some of the parliamentarians who want to make sure that they're able to speak openly and hear the political opinions of dissidence around the world. without it being registered and opposing parties. being able to see those meetings so that still going to be a balance, but i think the senses and as we saw from alexander's report, there is a sense in the european parliament that the optics and the visibility of this means that they know they have to do something to change what it looks like to the public, jack barrack and brussel. thank you so much, jack. china is the most populous nation in it means china is now facing a demographic crisis. 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 blame china's decades long punitive one child policy that was only

abandoned in 2016 hello. beijing is now trying to encourage families to have more children. the many chinese say they simply can't afford to i that there's a lot of pressure to have kids, but who dares to have kids? the unemployment rate is so high. covey 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 on 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 eighty's, there's more of us that are from one child family has got the law has a lot of pressure when it comes to taking care of your parents out and improving your quality of life in the future that the laura you'll 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. and a reminder of our top story today. european commission president, was it up on the line, has addressed world leader is to on the opening day of daniel, she found unveiling a used support for ukraine and unveiled plans for europe's green transition. stay with us now. i'll be back after a short break to take you through the day. hope to see you there. ah, with

oh ah. in there the last primeval forest in durham in lapland. the land of the saw me lies an ecological treasure. but even here, the timber industry is filling more and more treat environmentalists and the sammy are teaming up to fight back. it's a song, but they're succeeding tussa in 60 minutes on w. o.

and an excuse of interview with donny, dionne director of the yard wash him holocaust memorial. you vowed that you would never visit germany. what are your expectations? we have to think together how to continue to keep the flame of all upholstery members alive. now he's visiting germany for the very 1st time. the exclusive interview with donnie di starts january 18th at 2315. you to see on d w where all that good to go beyond the obvious i as we take on the world 8 hours, i do all this is weird all about the stories that matter to you. whatever

it takes to find, policeman follow with those who we are, your is actually on fire made for mines. the world's rich and powerful are once again mixing and mingling in the swiss alps. now not in saint lawrence in davos home of the world economic forum. the annual meeting where the global elite shakes hands makes deals and dreams up solutions to humanities. biggest challenges. this is not.