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tv   DW News  Deutsche Welle  January 24, 2023 9:00am-9:31am CET

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ah ah ah, this is dw news coming to live from berlin. will germany okayed delivery of leopard tanks to ukraine? there's still no clear answer from berlin on the issue, but poland says it's prepared to send the stalk of german made tanks to keep with or without permission. also coming up, power is returning to pakistan after a massive outage leaves tens of millions in the dark. the black out happened after
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generators were temporarily switched off to save energy and outrage in the middle east. protests. abrupt after par, i politician burns a copy of the koran in sweden. it could derail sweden's bid to join nato. ah, hello, i'm terry martin. good to have you with us. germany is facing growing pressure to supply ukraine with its leopard tanks and to allow other nations to do the same contractual league governments that had bought the german made tanks must seek berlin's permission before re exporting them. but the german governments, hesitation is frustrating. it's hello, says ukraine continues to pace a russian offensive. poland says it's planning to send it's leopard tanks to ukraine with or without berlin's consent. the issue is likely to be on the agenda
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as germany's new defense minister borders historian meets nato chief in stoughton. back here in berlin. this morning our political correspondent, thomas barrow, has been following the story from the beginning. so thomas, we've got an interesting meeting happening here in berlin today. we've got the nato secretary general installed back meeting the brand new german defense minister boars. the story is on what to expect. well, undoubtedly the big topic in that meeting today will be that reluctance by germany to allow the delivery of the leopard tanks to ukraine. both the tanks that germany has its own stocks and the ones that have been already sent to other countries that on those countries would then like to send to ukraine. it is unlikely that we will have decision made immediately after even during the press conference that we will listen to. but it is absolutely clear that that is the big topic on the agenda. it
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is probable that mr. historian will discuss that with mr. salton berg that mr. stories will once again explain why germany has been reluctant to white, so hasn't made up its mind when it comes to those deliveries. so it will be definitely a very interesting meeting to see exactly what they have to say when they speak to the press. that germany has provided a great deal of military support to ukraine. it must be said, the provide if sophisticated air defense systems of infantry fighting vehicles, et cetera, et cetera. but when it comes to supplying that hardware, germany has always been very hesitant, kind of doing so at the last minute why this hesitancy, there are different reasons why germany's hesitant one has to do with germany's longstanding position, to not send weapons to conflict zones. that's something that obviously changed terry as a result of the beginning of the war, ukraine as
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a result of allies coming together and deciding to send weapons to ukraine. it's important what you point in your question that germany has indeed helped ukraine a lot. that's something that we often hear from german officials when they point to germany's assistance to ukraine. stressing also that that assistance will continue, however, that big change is not a change that simply happens overnight. germany will not change its long standing position just in one day or in a few weeks. and that's why you see german officials doubting and debating whether to allow those deliveries of especially these heavy tanks to, to ukraine. i do think it's likely that germany will end up giving that approval. but i do understand that there is something that is happening after germany does debate very carefully the pros and cons very carefully. how many tanks they have, how many tanks are elsewhere, what the state of those chances and so on. german leaders do not want to make any quick decisions, despite the fact that allies would like that to be different. is the german
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government not concerned that it's credibility is being damaged through this debate tom, you have on the one hand credibility and that is something that is being affected that's being tarnished, especially by leaders, by international allies that consider that germany is taking the long time to make those decisions, i am mean, i do believe that german, the german government looks very carefully at that. i. however, also think that the german government is not only going to base its decisions and whether allies put pressure or think otherwise. the german chancellor olive shots in particular has been very clear in many of his decisions that he's not going to base them on what i said, but rather on when he and his government believe it's the right time to make those decisions. obviously discussing them very carefully with international partners. so that's what we're seeing right now. a lot of discussions and allies, internationalize are indeed expecting germany to make that decision very soon when it comes to authorizing those deliveries of leopard tanks to ukraine. thomas,
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thank you very much. for now, and i just want to remind our viewers that we hope to be bringing that press conference between young installed back and board. the story is live with respect to start about the next 10 minutes. we'll see if that happens. meanwhile, a turkish company says it isn't talks to send floating power ships to help supply electricity to ukraine. russia has stepped up attacks on the country's power grid, around half of ukraine's energy infrastructure has been disabled. the country says that that's putting millions of people at risk, especially during the cold winter months now is the winter of blackouts in ukraine, like here in the city of levine nights without power, has become part of war time life to millions. russia has been relentless in its attacks on ukraine's power plants, sub stations, and distribution lines. about half of the country's energy system has been crippled,
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official se ukrainian president followed me. zalinski accuses moscow of energy, terrorism, some fox. the very fact that russia resorted to terror against the energy industry and shows the weakness of the enemy prost locked before it cannot defeat ukraine on the battlefield. and that is why they are trying to break out people who is in this white hot nasa. 30 countries around the world has pledged immediate aid to help rebuild ukraine's energy grid, supplying generators, transformers and other hardware, one possible solution to the countries. the energy emergency could come from tacky and it involves ships like these. they call them power ships. floating electricity generation plants, the turkey based company, car power ship has a fleet of 36. they are to energy crisis spots around the world. the ships use
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either fuel oil or natural gas to generate electricity and feed it into local power . grits. some have an output of several 100 megabits per hour. but gordon is gamma. yeah, the scholarship over here can generate about 420 megawatts of omaha. an awful 4000000 people or q, sir, so it could supply the residence of a city like berlin. the 2nd edison urban that is, the ships have been used in shortage stricken countries, like lebanon, synagogue, and indonesia. they know how to easy. one of the companies senior executive says she is and talks to send several power ships to help alleviate the ukraine energy crisis. we are in discussions with oakland argo, with or the for governor it with moldova utilities, with romania utilities to understand the best way to sound like through the to ukraine. we can actually deployed these ships in less than 30 days and make them
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operational to inject new kilowatt hours, new electricity on the grid, which is the what does need that for ukraine. the initial idea was to send the power ships to odessa, ukraine's largest port. how easy says, but security and hence, insurance or major considerations, the ships may be deployed to neighboring countries. instead, we need to ensure the safety of secular to far parcel now of our ships. and if this is not to pull the boat while operating within ukrainian borders, it may be possible while operating at deck googling the port in moldova, or costanza port and romania and transmitting the electricity to ukraine via the transmission lines. costs and financing also remain key issues. so far, there is no deal. ukraine's energy ministry wasn't available for comment. so it's
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not clear if a, when the 1st power ships might make their way to hope ukraine get some lights back on. during a brute pakistan's energy minister says it has restored the national electricity grid there that suffered the worst breakdown in months. despite this claim, some areas of pakistan are still without power. hundreds of millions of people were left in the dark after the major power cut. authorities have blamed the outage on a voltage surge after generators were temporarily switched off to save energy. the nationwide blackout cut supplies to water pumps, leaving many people without access to drinking water, is the 2nd grid failure. in 3 months. the w asia editor shall new chums is in karachi. he gave us a sense of how the situation in pakistan is right now. was it is still and not been
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restored. surely, and it is the i was wondering if i would be able to talk to you from here in karachi because in boss of the city, the electricity has not been restored intact, affected people's lives. can common people cannot do their shores and the small businesses are suffering because everything depends on the electricity from the northwest focused on the northern areas to the southern part of the country. nationwide failure, it has been a big catastrophe. government says not it is not something extraordinary, but it has been pretty extraordinary unfair presented and people's lives are suffering because the economic crisis so, so big, so crippling and boxed on that. there is gas shortage. there is electricity shortages shortage. there is a medicine shortage. so all kinds of shortages in people's lives have been affected
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very badly and it is a lot of resentment against. understand this is the 2nd major grid failure in pakistan since october. why is the countries electricity infrastructure so unstable? because infrastructure is quite own, it needs, it needs only and the guy does not have the money. i mean, no government actually interested in overhauling and repairing the structure. it has been functional for decades. it requires a lot of repairs and there is no money to run the country. as i told you, there's no gas in the actual hike is just just huge of the people's lives. the businesses are suffering very badly because the small businesses depend on electricity and gas. and as far as i know, i was spoken to
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a lot of people here. the common people as well as the analysts and experts. they said that the country's economy is just going down and people are even comparing the situation and boxed on a long dress, which saw a huge public protests against crippling gun shamia. thank you so much. d. w a. show me a sharp there in karachi. thank you so much to catch up on a few other stories making headlines around the world. ukraine's president, a lot of ms. lewinsky says to 1000000 ukrainians, have been deported to russia since the start of the war. so when you made the claim in an address to the national association of state chambers by a video like he also accused moscow of stealing goods and equipment from occupied ukrainian territory. at least 7 people are dead after shooting and half moon bay in the us state of california. government open fire at a mushroom farm and then a nearby trucking business. police have detained
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a 67 year old suspect. this comes 2 days after another shooter killed 11 people in monterey park, california on the prosecutors here in germany have charged 5 people with high treason for allegedly plotting to kidnap health minister car lauterbach and oh, to overthrow the german government. prosecutors say the group had a 3 step plan 1st to calls a nationwide blackout, then to abduct the health minister and finally to depose the government. of the people in dog. in the wake of russia's war in ukraine, africa has increasingly come into focus, says many states search for alternative sources of energy in raw materials that's also reflected in germany's new strategy. poor investment in africa being presented today by the german government for years, africa was at best a secondary concern for germany. now german chancellor, olaf shalt says it is becoming a global center of gravity. the reason is simple. germany is looking for
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alternative energy sources and raw materials, especially as sanctions imposed on russia over the korean war. rule out an important former supplier. germany does require to do diversified. so resources specifically and energy sources. that is the main, the main idea, you know, post russian ukraine conflicts. this has become, become really clear to many and there needs to be a more diversification. africa might be the new center of attention for germany. but other countries have been there a long time like china. china is investing billions in africa, for example in road construction, thus securing access to raw materials for years now, china has been a big player in the cobalt business. 3 quarters of the world's deposits are in africa and demand is rising due to the electric car boom. cobalt is used in car
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batteries. china owns 8 of the 14 largest cobalt mines, but many african countries are looking for more balanced partnerships. they don't want just to exports raw materials anymore, and more and more countries are going over to demand. that value is being created onsite in african countries. germany wants to act as a partner and invest in solar energy and green hydrogen. but germany on like china has the legacy of the colonial era to deal with. so far, germany and namibia have been unable to reach a settlement on the genocide committed by imperial germany over 100 years ago. this is one of the challenge with the west. now, these are the china to come up with a, with a convincing argument to say, look, or development one is better than your development wanted, but in africa, africa has its own agency. africans are ready to engage with diverse partners, but they want to do this also on a quote footing not, you know,
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through post colonial structures. now african states have the chance to help shape future policy. now returning to our top story of germany's near defense minister boris pastorius is meeting here in berlin with neither chief jensen stoughton back. that 3rd delivering a joint press briefing that's expected to begin in just a couple of minutes. our chief political correspondent, nina has a is at the venue, is that as we wait for that press conference to begin, she joined us now. so need a work coin expect from this a on this joint press conference? well officially, this is just the 1st meeting of nato's chief un staunton back and germany's new defense minister borders. the story is you have to keep your mind that bars historian has only been in office since last thursday, so he is having to do all these important meetings now to get to know his
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counterparts. some people are, of course, also hoping that them might be movement when it comes to that big, contentious issue almost for the german government at least the delivery of a battle tanks to ukraine. now whether that is going to happen, whether the 2 will say something about this issue, that is a very much unclear because we all know that this decision ultimately lies with the national security council. and with german chancellor will have tried to sofa has been tight lipped on the issue, but maybe we'll hear more about this issue from nato and from the defense minister today than you know, we've been getting mixed signals from the german government with regard to delivery of leopard too, but main battle tanks to ukraine. can you 1st of all explain to us what is the german position? what is the german government's position on that? well, terry, that is one of the big problems that there is no one german government position on
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it. we had a, the economy minister 2 weeks ago about havoc from the greens who is after all, shows his deputy say that if there is such a demand from a country like poland, for example, that wants to deliver it's leopard 2 tanks to ukraine, then germany shouldn't stand in the way of such a demand and that poland should be able to go along with it. but and then we heard from love showing that no decision has been made. the new defense minister also said it's a decision that we're expecting at some point. he said last friday at the big ukraine contact group meeting at ramstein, that the decision would come in a day or a week or 2. he doesn't know whether it's going to be positive or negative. so this is somebody else from the cabinet who hasn't really said what live demo position is we own. the only thing that we know is that they are still coordinating those steps with their allies. that is the one strong message that keeps coming out of berlin.
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that apparently there are negotiations happening behind closed doors, and of course, everybody knows that ultimately allies means the u. s. or left child doesn't want to go such a step alone. he doesn't want germany to essentially be the only country that has provided combat tanks to ukraine. via partners or from germany itself. so he needs the us to move as well. and he doesn't want to be drawn into the war as germany or as europeans alone without the americans. now this is a, a complex story of course, and our viewers should know that in order for countries like poland that have german made leverage tanks in order for them to export those to ukraine. they need germany's approval. this is true of other countries as well. now poland has already signal that it wants to send it's german, made leverage tanks to ukraine. finland says it may do so as well. nina,
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has there been any formal request to germany from those countries for export permission for those levered to tanks? no, that hasn't. that is the one thing that we're hearing here in berlin, that if poland files such a request, they are going to get an answer. and on the lena bab oak said in an interview with a french television station on sunday, that if we receive such a request, then we shouldn't stand in the way and at the other countries should be allowed to deliver those tanks. now whether that is something that we'll have, shorts shall these few. as i said, we don't know. but and many people here in berlin, especially from the social democrats, say that there is a lot of em loud noise also coming out from poland because poland is currently am in the middle of an election campaign. they're going to the polls very soon. and in poland, this is one of those issues when germany just happens to be one of their favorites,
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as scapegoats, if you will add it so that they can put the blame on some of the countries that they make them, that they make look, poland look very decisive and germany, not so. so this is something when poland has not officially put in the request at, and we simply don't know what would happen if they did so. well, we were hearing lots of reasons for why germany might be hesitant to deliver tanks to ukraine main battle tanks to ukraine or allow other countries to, to deliver them up. but what's the, you know, when we look at germany domestically, is there, is there a lot of support from the public and from the other political groups represented in parliament for delivering these tanks, or is it extremely controversial within germany itself? the picture in germany is completely split when it comes to this issue. there was
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a pole last week that said that a narrow majority approves the delivery of leopard 2 tanks to ukraine so that ukraine can defend itself. but also a majority of people didn't want those leopard tanks to be used to claim back crimea to win back a crimea on the battlefield. and this is, of course, one of the goals that the ukrainian government has put out that they do want to reclaim as much of their territory as possible from russia. so this is a very contentious debate here in germany. and ultimately what is very important. distress is also that will have so it is under a lot of pressure from his own party. the social democrats, there is a very strong group that is not in favor of, of sending those combat tanks to ukraine. they say that would of mountain escalation. we don't know how russia would react, that would prolong the war unnecessarily. there is something that definitely also has an influence on will have shorts and then also those the fear. what happens if this goes wrong? what did we do then?
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which is one of the reasons that people hear estimate is all of choices. main motivation that he ones as many allies as possible behind such a step because they do see the delivery of combat tangs as qualitatively speaking. definitely a step hop, gemini, stresses as has already delivered armored vehicles to ukraine or it is pledging to do so. those are an armored vehicles of the modern type. but as sending combat tanks is seen as something that really would mean a different quality in itself because they are the most modern combat tanks that are currently available, which is why will i show it says we cannot take such a step without allies. nina, thank you very much for now. we are of course are going to cross over to you again when that press conference begins, which we are expecting any time. so stand by noon, i will talk to you in again in a moment. meanwhile let's catch up on some other news. a
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koran burning incident in sweden has set off a series of rallies across the middle east of far right swedish danish politicians set fire to his lambs. holy book in stockholm, in front of turkeys embassy. the incident has threatened to derail sweden's bid to join the nato military alliance ah condemnation in yemen, capital santa, against the burning of the koran islam sacred scripture. the incident in sweden has caused outreach in parts of the middle east. i will go that it's important to boycott sweden. why did you come out with him to have them one without us? oh, interacts capital baghdad. protesters gathered in front of the swedish embassy calling for its closure. ah, bobby sigh,
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this is offensive to own losing. and we don't want it to happen again moral ethanol and we're calling on the european union to condemn such insults, to religion. the shedra, this osler johnson o'hara on saturday ross miss pallet in head of a far right danish party, held a protest in front of turkey's embassy and stock home. the swedish danish national set fire to the koran, sweden's prime minister, called the act, deeply disrespectful, but defended the right to free speech. that has put sweden's nato application in jeopardy. a session to the military alliance must be approved unanimously by member states including turkey, who tim is in bure kids in clay. but those who allowed have such a vileness to take place in front of our the see not no longer expect any charity
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from us on regarding van nate's i membership application. big them is. if did artic gazoomba was im sorry, i thought you said this at the beginning, i did it so you will let in type of organizations were wild on your avenues and streets in us. allen expects our supports for getting into ne titles and that is not happening in new york robes, blah de la suite and enter key appeared to be making headway in nato negotiations. the quran provocation is putting their ties to the test yet again, i. c the organizers of berlin's international film festival, the belly, nana hub, unveiled this year's program, russia's invasion of ukraine and protests, and he, ren, we'll be cor themes, actor and director, sean, penn will premier super power his documentary about the ukraine war. melina will also feature french director, nicolai philly, bows, sula other more,
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a documentary about mentally disabled people and the animate movie. suzanne me by japanese director makoto sion kind d w's culture correspondence. scottsboro has more on what we can expect from the belly and this pre panoramic glamour this year. it's been actually 3 years since we've had a proper data. you know, last year they did have one, but there were still some coded restrictions and social distance thing. and so forth in place. so he didn't really have a pack theaters, didn't have the, the rank carpet craziness that is always a part of the bell. and i think people like back going to so many a $1000000000.00 over the years are really met. and i'm hoping it'll come back this year. i mean, we least have enough star power coming again. we've got an halfway coming and keep blanche tad and helen, we're in some of my favorites. we've got other,
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the hunky alexander scars car who's going to be walking the right carpet and the almost a hunky john malkovich will also be coming. kirsten stewart star twilight. she's going to be in berlin the whole time because she's the jury president this year. so we'll be seeing a lot of her, and we should be able to spot a steven spielberg because he'll be dropping in 3 feet a lifetime achievement golden bear. so hopefully that'll be enough, gar. power to really get people out again and get the bell in our back to it. sort of pre kobe normal. our culture correspond, scott roxborough there. well, if you're just joining us, we're waiting for a press conference to begin here in berlin. we have nato secretary general young stoughton bag meeting with germany's brand new defense minister florist historian, and they're going to be talking among other things about germany's position on delivering leopard 2 tanks to ukraine. there's been a great deal of discussion about that with me here in the studio to talk more about this topic is our political correspondent, thomas sparrow. thomas for the in,
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we've been talking about this now for, for days and weeks. the whole issue of whether germany is going to up itself, export. it's leopard to the main battle tanks to ukraine or allow other countries like poland to export them to ukraine. ukraine has been desperate to get these get these tanks, needs them, of course to, to repel the russian invasion. talked to us thomas about where germany stands on this issue at this point. so at the heart of all, this is how germany views is international role. it international leadership, according to some of japanese allies that could be reluctant leadership. gemini, is elidah. that does not necessarily move very quickly, especially when he comes to big changes like sending weapons to conflict. so, and that was something that for a long time, gemini didn't want to do, and that has changed step by step in the warren ukraine, germany on the other hand, the german government for a very long time as well.

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