ah ah ah ah, this is dw news lie from berlin, ukraine's interior minister is among the victims of a deadly helicopter crash near keith. the aircraft went down next to a kindergarten. local police say 3 children were killed, cranes, president is calling it a terrible tragedy. also in the program of victory in the philippines for

a journalist under threat fax when through when jeff is with a poor to quit nobel laureates, maria restaurant, and her wrapper, news outlet of tax evasion, charges widely seen as politically motivated will get her reaction to the verdict and prosecutors investigating a major e. u corruption scandal strike a deal with a key suspect. former e lawmaker antonio pon variable reveal details of the a legit bribes paid. and the parties involved ah, a mary evans dean. it's good to have you with us. a helicopter crash in ukraine has

yells, at least 15 people, including the ukrainian interior minister. dennis lost their scheme, the helicopter with the minister and other officials on board went down in the city of bro, very just outside of the capital key. if officials say it had a kindergarden and an apartment building as it came down and that several children are among the dead of building a blaze, moments after the crash the emergency services will quick to the scene. it's not yet clear what caused the helicopter to full from the sky. that moment was won't be know what present is. that the helicopter fell to the ground between the kindergarten on a residential building in the town of brewery was awarded to put the issue on board . the helicopter operated by the state emergency service use was where 9 people was among them. the leadership of the interior ministry sort of nic get at least let me use that. so dishes role, interior minister,

denise modesty ascii as well as his deputy and other officials are among the dead away. they were believed to be on their way to the front line. when the helicopter came down in foggy conditions, one eye witness said that the pilot seemed to try to avoid buildings as the helicopter came down. and everybody love you. so my, my think that he chose the smallest target those moves, but because there was a 2 story building there. and here there were 10 floors you owe the pilot made heroic effort. zillow, ggoup was to, he flew the helicopter to the smallest place. he did the best he could well then the view summer molar. investigate is already looking into the incident which presidency lensky has dubbed a terrible tragedy. i spoke a short time ago with our correspondence on your phone, a car who was at the side of the crash. so i'm standing here near the side of the

helicopter crash. this isn't bro body. a sub that is about 25 kilometers east off cave. and as you can see, probably behind me, the area has been completely cordoned off that many police officers here also, members of ukraine's military emergency services. you have revised the deck tone call saying that about 16 people have been confirmed dead now, including 3 children, more than 20 people are hospitalized including 10 children. now, what we know here is that the time the copper came down, new or kindergarten and residential building, a multi story residential building. the governor says at the time the staff and children were in the kindergarten, not the impact of the crash goals to fire to break out around the kindergarten. we've seen the wreckage off the helicopter. they've been some, there's been some debris of mangled cause and trees. now it was zach and foggy at the time of the crash, some residency i've been seeing that there was a power outage at the time. there were no lights in the building around. now we

don't have further details of what exactly cause this crash, but you know, you're creating officials who do flying planes and helicopters do now tend to fly low altered today because of russian miss. i'd like since the beginning of this war . we're also hearing that ukraine security service has now taken over the investigation into this crash. and they said that they're considering all possible scenarios, including, you know, technical ditches glitches and you know, a deliberate intention to destroy this across. well, as we mentioned, it was among the dead was the interior minister of ukraine, and he is the most senior ukraine, an official to have died since the war began. and what impact is, is likely to have on zalinski government. when news of this crash has suddenly come as a big shock hill, presidents, the landscape today, you know, on the telegram app, called it a dark morning called it a terrible tragedy and describe the loss of these ministers as you know,

the can you call them true patriots of ukraine. now, suddenly this is a big, big lot of ukraine because this involves the 3 main figures of the interior ministry. and in particular, the interior minister himself, you know, dennis, one of this, he was, he was leaving, he was the key member of prison to lensky, his cabinet. he was the, what is the most senior official to die since the war began? and you know, he played a key role in kind of informing the public on the casualties caused by russian beside strikes. since the war began, he was a familiar with the girl at the sight of devastation every time there was an besides strike. but you know, you claim the officials your are saying his loss will not affect the working of the ministry showing that the cabinet to day will appoint an interim acting interior minister a to fill in his role. did a liaison if on a car for us at the sight of the crash in a suburb of key of thank you so much turning to some other news now, and a court in the philippines has acquitted journalist maria reza and her online news

outlet rambler, of tax evasion charges. reza was joined winner of the nobel peace prize just 2 years ago, but her globally recognized reporting on her nation's violent anti drug campaign made her an enemy of former president rodrigo to charity. oh, it's not the end of the war for nobel prize winner maria theresa, but she has won a significant baton speaking outside god, she struggled to hold back tears back today. sacks, when truth, when justice wins. major emotional am for her as a co founded the online new site doppler and used it to expose philippines. president rodrigo debt is alleged abuse of bar and growing authoritarianism. dodge,

i tried to discredit drop law. i opened a barony meeting. she says he weaponized philippines. judicial system against her and her associates, left to be given. the 59 year old has been battling a series of cases, filed you to her vocal criticism of the former president. these charges, as you know, were politically motivated. they were incredible to us. a brazen abuse of power and meant to stop journalists from doing their jobs. she still faces 3 other criminal cases, including a cyber libel conviction, currently on a bill forward, she could be sentenced to nearly 7 years in prison. a short time ago, i spoke to maria theresa and i asked her about how she felt after the acquittal. oh my lord, i mean for years and 2 months, you know,

it hits on it. i had hoped this would be what it is. i would have taken a stretch of imagination to have made it a conviction, but there was a lot at stake. not just for rattler, i and the philippines. but in terms of what this meant for our development, for rule of law, for press freedom. a how do i feel like the sun is coming? but we know, unfortunately, you're not completely out of the woods yet. you are still facing a number of other charges that could possibly lead to long prison terms. if you are convicted, do you expect to be acquitted? on these charges to ah, the worst 7 criminal charges that i was facing on the when the marcos administration came in, they were all initiated under the tier to administration in less than 2 years. i posted bail 10 times right. 10 arrest warrants. of course. this is the very 1st

time since 2016 that we actually won a case on, you know, as you can read the decision, pretty ludicrous charges of this this mean. it's the, the end of it, not yet, but it is a really good beginning for us. and we hope that with these for tax evasion, charges thrown out, there's a 5th one that's related to it. we'll hope to get a similar verdict in that one. and then a cyber libel has moved the fastest it's at the supreme court. now, again, i hope for the best well, in the past you've said that the philippines legal system has been weaponized against you. and at the same time, you've also criticized the role that's played by social media and trying to demonize you. can you explain what you mean by that? i think this works hand in hand. what we saw beginning in 2016 was the weapon ization of social media. it's almost like fertilizer that's put in place before the

attacks come top down. so the lies come out. you bottom up on social media, in our case journalists equals criminal. you say that lie a 1000000 times. it kind of left fertilizer on the ground. a year of that than a year later, top down from president to chair to himself who repeated the meta narrative journalistic was criminal. a week later we received our for subpoena by 2018. we got a shut down order and. and then it went 14 investigations that year by $21910.00 arrest warrants in less than 2 years. and here we are today. we're still fighting. we're still doing our jobs. cost 10, arrest warrants and 2 years. all of this must take a real physical and also emotional toll on you. how are you coping? i think that the government, andy government, that uses that,

that uses the law against journalists, hopes that the journalist will, who give up their rights voluntarily. what we learned is, you know, the phrase we've used since 2016 as oh i he is the lying division and asked and though the she tried to use a bulldozer to push us backwards. we linked arms and we held the line and it wasn't us rattler, it was our community. it's the international community and you know, more than ever i think this has really shown us that facts can win, that the truth can win. and in the end, that is what brings justice, this is what to day brought to us. you touched upon this just briefly at the beginning of our conversation that this was significant more broadly for free speech in the philippines. can you tell us more about that? these charges to day the for tax evasion,

charged us. i mean came less than 6 months or about 6 months after the philippine government had given us a top corporate taxpayer award. right. by using this, essentially wrapped, blurt had had investments coming in through a, an instrument called philippine depository receipt. so this decision impacted our, our economics, the business community, foreign direct investment, and finally press freedom because why were we targeted? because we were journalists holding the government accountable in that time period, it was what was happening around us was a brutal drug war where an average of $78.00 dead bodies a night are being dumped on the sidewalk. this is what we did in order to do our jobs. we had to be ready to these to deal with these legal repercussions. maria ross and joining us from manila,

thank you so much for your time. european union lawmakers have elected a replacement for a scandal head vice president who's facing corruption charges, law makers, elected mark angle from luxembourg. he's a member of the left of center socialists and democrats group within the parliament . he also had the backing of the 2 other largest groups in parliament, angles, predecessor greek, m e p. ever. kylie is one of 4 people with linked to the parliament under investigation. their charge with criminal activity including money laundering. d. w . alexander phenomena has more details they are back at work in strasburg, but not back to business. as usual. the corruption scandal dabbed as katara gate continues to royalty 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 or so justice,

the belgium and european justice will make their job. whenever you meet people, they ask you about the corruption, please, and 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 raided homes and officers of incumbent and former members of the parliament, bags of cash were found for people among them. eva chi lee, one of the parliament's vice presidents were arrested. they have been accused of taking bribes in exchange for favours for cattle and morocco, accusations the countries deny heidi hotel is finished politician. and as kaylee used to be vice president of the european parliament, she did not fit very well into the opinions of her. 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 president robert are met. sola 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 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 forgot 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 capital . i'm brazzel deer, chief alexander phenomena file that report. and earlier she told us more about the newly elected mark angle who is replacing eva kylie. while he is a former teacher from luxembourg, and he is a member of the group of socialists and democrats here in the parliament. he was there a candidate. he describes himself as a fighter for social justice, for climate action, as somebody who fights for equality and for the rights of the o, g, b, t, q, community. and he also says that he is a team player and he was selected to day. however, there is some controversy surrounding this vote because some members of the

european parliament were demanding from the socialists and democrats to give up their past because their vice president pos because of the whole a corruption scandal. and because of the fact that eva kylie was a member of a group, however, as a socialist, a democrat said, there is that is not an option. and so the vote went on that sir, could sir, however, explain why a mark angle was not able or anger was not able to secure the majority of the votes in the 1st round and next a 2nd round was need it? well, there is one former lawmaker implicate in the scandal has now agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. what can you tell us about him? well, we are talking here about a former italian e lawmaker who has struck a plea deal with the belgium. prosecutors,

antonio pan. terry is going, as the prosecutors are hoping to reveal, some crucial information in this ongoing investigation into whether foreign states such as cattle or morocco, tried to an influence to parliament's decisions. and according to his lawyer, he already admitted to having bribed, fellow lawmaker who is already under the investigation and for whom that prosecutors have already requested immunity to be lifted. but why this plea deal is such a bombshell is the fact that of course, we expect more details to emerge and more details to be revealed. and to you have this question on your mind when we, when you talk to lawmakers here, whether any of them might be getting nervous because of the new revelations that we

expect to be revealed soon. well, all of this, understandably, has cast a shadow over the opening session of the parliament. but we know it's also not the only order of business. alexander what else is on the parliament agenda today. on the parliament agenda is also discussion about the european union's foreign policy. and here in particular, of course, russia's war on ukraine with lawmakers expected to vote on a non biding resolution to coal for the establishment of special treat you know tribunal to prosecute alleged war crimes committed by russian forces in ukraine, alexander phenomena. thank you so much for that. yon fashion is the world holocaust remembrance center in israel. and this year the center turns 70 and to mark the occasion is holding various commemorative events,

including here in germany. situated on the mount of remembrance in jerusalem, yad vashem, explorers, the history of the holocaust, the magically and chronologically its chairman, danny de leon once vowed, never to set foot in germany, but he since reversed his decision. he'll soon accompany an exhibition of artifacts from the holocaust that's being put on display in the buddhist. talk the german parliament in berlin. in an interview with d. w. rebecca readers, diane spoke of his reasons for changing his mind about visiting germany. the other is an interesting jewish tradition, not many just doing these days, but that still exists. the object that kip small part of it wall in the department in their home not painted. why? you know the to remembered the destruction of jerusalem 2000 years ago. every time they see they remember that generals and it was destroyed 2000 years ago,

then the temple was destroy. that's the reason i did it. it's my stain on the, on the wall. and when i look at the map of the places i visited a white stain on the map of europe in germany. and i remember why i don't visit germany. it's to keep, to give my respect to the 6000000 jews that were married. but the same reason that prevented me from visit to germany this day is there isn't. that brings me to germany. now i'm chairman of the machine. because the chairman of yet, by visiting germany, i have the ability to amplify remembrance of the show to amplify the respect that the spade to the victims. not only on a personal basis, but also the much larger base in an amount on the basis because it will be reported that seeing that and exhibition will be seen by many persons. so it's basically the

same decision. the circumstances change, not my decision. and you can find the full interview with the va sham chairman, denny dionne on our youtube channel. or you can watch it later here on dw. well, china is grappling with a surge of coven, 1900 infections that have overwhelmed its health system. part, the problem is that people in mainland china currently have no access to foreign made. m r n, a vaccines, which haven't proven effective against the disease. but now the patient has lifted pandemic restrictions. chinese travelers are free to visit hong kong where the vaccines are available and the city is now bracing for an influx of vaccine tourists. melon chinese, who hath wanted to be emma lies with m r. n a co vaccines. and now at long last amount in hong kong, yo yo, lee was among the 1st batch of recipients in this private clinic is also the 1st foreign vaccine she has had things to pandemic. shorthand one they may or are there

is no by violent marino vaccine in mainland china. sasha foreign statistics showed that by violent marino vaccines provide greater protection against infection and severe illness way or yeah, it's also a birthday gift for myself today. but young lady by getting an m r n h out while some possible and to china, we're open to sport us. and in particular to hong kong, mr. pol made a trip from san jen, ourselves and city neighboring hong kong. on the 1st day of the border, we opening the 64 year old had already had 2 shots of china as domestic vaccines sign ofac. but he helps bio text by vaillant booster shots will protect him against to current outbreak. gonna show omega people at my age in china, got a worried about getting infected like, oh, great, go, i'm more confident and german and american medicine. we got because it's developed with a different technology. what a $200.00 slusher meal for. many of my friends who took inactivated chinese

vaccines were infected though york ira covert vaccines are free for hong kong residence. but travelers have to pay $240.00 to $360.00 us dollars to private medical groups for one m r and they cove it by valan shots. nevertheless, many mainland chinese see a trip to hong kong as worthwhile and hong kong private clinics. and hospitals expect a growing demand. these medical center is preparing to inoculate up to a 1000 people per day. after receiving hundreds of inquiries, not only from individuals, but also travel agencies. there are a lot of people got infection recently in the last few weeks or last a month or 2. they cannot get this ship, which is a booster. those immediately, they have to wait for at least 3 months. so we expect as low increase a number in the next few weeks or 2 months, and then there might be

a peak coming on in march or april. the city is expected to be the top destination of chinese specks in tourism. you're watching the w news coming to from berlin. a reminder now of our top story in ukraine. at least 15 people have been killed, including the ukranian interior minister after a helicopter crash near a kindergarten and apartment block close to the capital. key of officials have also confirmed that 3 of the dead are children. that's the latest sunday w news. this our up next indeed of all your news asia, thousands of children and india go missing each day. we follow one groups efforts to reunite them with their families and human rights. investigators say me and mar is making weapons from parts supplied by global firms and using them to commit

atrocities. melissa, chad will bring you those stories and more after a short break. i'm marion evans team from me and the entire news team here in berlin. thanks for the company. ah, with

ah ah, you cream was like a stepping point 6, you know pilots you insert that warranty wants to be. finish your studies. now you have percent from a crane, you can choose to go back to somewhere else. currently, more people than ever on the move mold wide in search of a better life. so why, but i want to go back and, and yeah, like, i don't have any reason to but there's no reason that's nothing for me that yeah, i believe something great is coming very, very soon. and yeah, i can wait. no more about la valley's story

in for my grand reliable needs for my grand wherever they may be. ah, an exclusive interview with donnie 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 upholstered members alive. now he's visiting germany for the very 1st time. the exclusive interview with donnie di today at 2315 u t. c on d w. oh, india. ah, a land of contrasts of ambitions of inequality. 75 years ago, mahatma gandhi peacefully led the country to independence with what has remained of his vision. where does the world so called the largest democracy stand and

where is india headed? this is the moment to unleash on violet bars. gandhi's legacy starts january 28th on d. w. you're watching d. w. news asia coming up. why rescuers as railway stations across india must race against time. the stakes are high to locate unaccompanied children before seeming traffickers. do it's a crime happening across the country plus, disturbing findings for my team of human.