ah ah ah, this is the w news coming to you live from berlin. new surge in western military support for ukraine. u. s. president joe biden announce is washington will deliver $31.00 of its powerful abrams tanks to the battlefield. this just hours after german transfer, all of sholtes confirmed berlin will send 14 of its leverage to tax,

also coming up, a deadly cold snap sweeps across asia from afghanistan to japan. sub 0, temperatures and heavy snow are causing chaos for millions. plus 2 people have been stabbed to death during a knife attack on a train in northern germany. police arrested a suspect who has a criminal history and was recently released from prison. and in but as league of football doctrine breaks the deadlock at the last minute to come away with 3 crucial points in their match against mine. ah. hello m terry martin. thanks for joining us. western made babble tanks will soon be confronting russian armor on the battlefield in ukraine. the re, u. s. is confirmed. it's sending 31 of its m one abrams tanks to keep. the

announcement follows germany's decision to deliver leopard to tax. this coordinated move aims to support ukraine encountering an expected russian offensive in the spring. keith has called it a historic day, but russia's ambassador in washington said the u. s. decision was another blatant provocation. and the kremlin has accused berlin of abandoning what it calls it's historical responsibility to russia. after days of diplomatic wrangling to big announcements from either side of the atlantic to day to day, i'm announcing at the united states will be sending 31 abrams tanks to ukraine. the equivalent of one ukranian battalion. secretary austin has recommended to step because on hash ukraine's capacity and had finished her turn achieve strategic objectives. the u. s. president statement came just hours after germany announced it would deliver 14 of his leopard to battle tanks to ukraine. does this, does

a given us, this is the results of renewed and intense consultations with our allies and international partners. as i would like to underline that it was right. and it is right that we didn't let ourselves be forced into action. now that we instead counted and will continue to count on close corporation on these issues, international pressure had been growing and germany to agree to send lipp at 2 tanks to ukraine or to at least lift an export ban on the jam and may tanks. so other countries could supply them that last week, meeting of defense leaders from more than 50 countries at ramstein air base and germany failed to produce any agreements, chance loan of shots was unwilling to send german tanks unless the u. s. made a similar commitment, sat diplomatic gamble, seemingly paid off the agreement to supply the tangs is

a huge political turn around for germany. and it's a major boost for ukraine. western battle tanks like the leopard and the abrams are what ukrainian president followed me as a lensky has long been pleading for and many say they could be a game changer in the war. i am grateful to all our allies of our willingness to provide us with modern and much needed tanks of his proofs for most important frat for a while to day. for fat, for freedom is only getting stronger. and the way we are all working together to strengthen freedom to defend ukraine in europe, is a historic achievement of a part of the leaders who are working on it right now. that zalinski also stressed that speed as now key. while the 1st leopard tangs could arrive in ukraine in the next 2 to 3 months, the white house has already said that it will likely be many more months before its

abrams tanks will arrive at the front of following wednesday's announcement, chancellor olive sholtes defended the government's decision to send tanks to ukraine. speaking on german television, he reaffirmed the unity between western allies. he also stressed that this should not be seen as nato becoming embroiled in the conflict. the man with mittens can, we are doing this together and type in this is a sign of cooperation and solidarity, but also a very clear message to putin that his imperialist wall will not succeed. we will support your grain together without letting ourselves be divided under the same time, always make sure that we don't become party to the wall. there must be no war between russia and nato will stand on her not to give more. am joiner by our political correspond taurus, bearer toss. what did you make of the chance was explanation there. there was not only pressure for the chancellor and for his government to decide on sending the stands and for allowing other countries to do the same. it was also about how he

would communicate that decision. part of the problem here in germany, part of the pressure that was leveled against or have chosen his government was because of the fact that germans knew very little what by about what was happening behind the scenes about what the german government was thinking about, what german government officials were discussing and that's why i think yesterday wasn't only about announcing that decision, something that allies were very happy about. it was also about explaining how that came about and why the decision was important. so it wasn't only about all of shawls in parliament talking to m p. 's, they're talking to a german, a local audience. it was also then afterwards about going on television in that interview and explaining why this decision was taken. and that something, by the way, i think all i've shawls as german chancellor has also learned in the last few months, especially with the war and ukraine. that it's not only about deciding steps. it's

also about communicating those steps. and that's a big criticism that had been leveled against him in the past. now berlin held out all approving delivery of german made tanks to ukraine until the us agreed to send tanks of its own. do we know how this arrangement was negotiated over? say we don't know all the details. what we do know is why germany waited. the chancellor yesterday also explained on various occasions that didn't want to be seen as making unilateral decisions as only germany sending battle tanks to ukraine . and wanted to make sure that that decision came hand in hand with its closest allies in particular with the united states. and that's why behind the scenes, but also publicly there was a meeting only a few days ago in the us base of ramstein here in germany. with all sorts of different allies, those issues were discussed and was clear from the germans perspective, that i didn't want to be seen as doing something on its own unit. naturally had to be done something it had to be done together with united states. and that's why we

had the german demo, chancellor announced that decision, we also heard the u. s. president. do something very similar to afterwards. there are fears that the delivery of tanks, these are sophisticated heavy weapons, could lead to an escalation of the war or those peers justified. that was one of the elements that the german government, the government official certainly discussed. they do not want to see this turning into a war between russia and nato. so that's why all this, these options were actually weighed very carefully before that decision was made. that by the way, is also a concern among many germans, especially in the eastern part of the country that concerned that this could spiral out of control as more and more weapons, a centers heavier and heavier weapons ascent. and this is something the german government also stressed. in fact, the german chancellor emphasized that there are limits to the help that germany and other countries would send to a ukrainian particular german chancellor said that there would be no troops on the

ground from germany. that that is a red line that germany would not cross told us. thank you very much. as always our political correspondent, thomas barrow. meanwhile, last year's president has blamed a failure of western politics for russia's invasion of ukraine. ages levitt said warnings from the baltic states were not taken seriously enough by the west. he made remarks in an exclusive interview with a rigor bureau chief uri re chateau where he defended sending tanks to ukraine. he stress this decision did not cross a red line. think that such a red lines are useful in this context because the red line of us is us, are a step already by russia, by attacking ukraine. so we are not afraid about the next round, let's say, off the escalation between russia and to the best. so we should help ukraine to defend the nation. the state and russia should see that aggression can

not lead to some benefits, because if it would allow russia to benefit from aggressions on, of course, there is no more limits than it is also invitation for russia to go further. but also, for example, for other countries to attack neighbors. mister president from russia president meeting event, if sent recently that an hitler power cannot lose, don't you worry about the prospect of the war nuclear war, atomic war in the middle of europe president by then all of the said that the use of nuclear nuclear weapons you claim by russia would be catastrophic out for russia. baltic states warned of russian aggression, especially after the annexation of can year 2014. and do you have the feeling or

the sense that western europe a western countries didn't take you seriously? it is a serious failure of service and politics. it leads automatically to their full scale invasion in the ukraine, and the knows that this is a consequences. and that hor, exec, also for this reason. or for a yell and support of ukraine in order to defend itself. vista egleston, it's latin president. thank you for this interview. thank you. and you can find the full version of that interview without being present on our youtube channel. now deadly cold snap is sweeping across asia, causing record low temperatures and disruption. the freezing weather has affected millions of people from japan and south korea to afghanistan, which is experiencing it's coldest winter. in 15 years. people in china's northernmost city more. he and no strangers to the cold. the temperature here can

stay below freezing for up to 8 months of the year. but this week things are especially chilly. temperatures plunged to minus 53 degrees celsius. it's colder stay either recorded. what it's a northern china has been hit hard by the freezing front, affecting asia. roads are covered in snow rail tracks, a frozen with thick ice charlie abroad. co here and junk. a cycling isn't an option either. the cold sweep has caused sea ice and northeastern li alden bay to expand rapidly. it's not just china that's freezing. japan is also experiencing record low temperatures. heavy snow is blanketing large parts of the country. with $93.00 seemed to meet its falling on the city of money were in just 24 hours in south korea,

nearly $500.00 flights in and out of the resort island j ju were cancelled on tuesday to to the wither. meanwhile and central asia, the weather is proving deeply in afghanistan, temperatures have dropped a minus 34 degrees in parts and more than a 120 people are reported to have died. we are having so many problems with this cold weather. we have no call, no stove, and our children have no warm clothes. the cold is deepening, the humanitarian crisis, facing the country. since the taliban took control. the afghan winter makes everything a lot more difficult and we're very conscious of the season of the timing. and as you say, we see some of the consequences in loss of life. this is within the context of 6000000 people. it's an astonishing number of people. knock it on fallon's door.

the better temperatures are plunging much of afghanistan, struggling population further into poverty. this year marks the harshest winter and a long time in large parts of asia and for the millions affected spring can't come soon enough. frank smith is a freelance journalist based in sole south korea. he told me more about how the severe weather is affecting the south korean capital. while it reached minus $25.00 and minus $28.00 in including windshield here in the south korean capital. this is one of those stories that, that hits close to home here in i live in a, in a high rise, a modern, high rise just completed a couple of years ago. and the pipes froze in the lobby of my building in they burst and water spewed out across the the lobby area of the building in then that froze, creating something of an ice rink. as your earlier report mention,

there's been record snowfall on chad. you island, that's a semi tropical island. it's the southernmost point of, of south korea, causing a delays in suspension of flights. they've recently, i think, wednesday and, and early today resumed those flights, despite the cold temperatures here in the south green capital and even extended the time that the airport in sol accepted, accepted those flights. the also, the south brain government has responded to this opening up in preparing 7000 cold shelters in the capital region, as well as salting roads. back on january 15th, there were hundreds of auto accidents with a deluge of, of snow here in south korea. and so they wanted to prevent that and, and were a little bit more ready for this current to snowfall. terry does sound extreme, franco. what about the korean peninsula in general,

understand north korea has been hit hard as well. well, as possibly even a bigger problem. certainly cold snap in, in north korea, north korea, if you've ever seen satellite imagery, nighttime, satellite imagery of north korea. you know, that electricity outside of the capital pyongyang is, is kind of rare. and looking at north and south ham young province. those are in the northern regions of, of north korea close to russia. those areas, again suffer from a lack of the electricity. people heat their homes using wooden and dry plants. so there have been reports, especially of concern for that area. radio free asia reported last year. cases of many people going missing and assumed frozen while they were outside food insecurity is also a related concern. as so as north korea sealed,

it's bordered with china for a long period of time due to the coven 19 pandemic. so that food insecurity is, is something that experts in food security experts here in south. we're also worried about about there in north korea's northern provinces. terry? just very quickly, frank, what's the forecast? the forecast is for things to warm up a bit. there they are still though, forecasting either some type of precipitation, either rain or snow and just on a related issue. so 3 is kind of experienced something of a energy price boom, as well with the ukraine war, affecting energy prices around the world. south korea imports 100 percent of its oil. so the government has had to step up and provide subsidies for, for people to, to heat their homes, especially the. ready underprivileged sheer and south korea tearing. thank you very

much, shaw, freelance journalist, frank smith, they're reporting from sole south korea. st. luke's mother stories making headlines today. india is celebrating its 74th republic day with the military and cultural parade in delhi. thousands of lined the streets of the capital for the annual event which marks the adoption of india's constitution. and the end of british rule, at least a dozen people have been injured after a bomb exploded near a market in eastern congo authorities. in the town of benny say the, an unknown person detonated a device hidden in a bag. the victims were taken to hospital and an investigation is underway. social media giant meta says it will restore the facebook and instagram accounts of former us president donald trump. after 2 years suspension, the company says the band will be lifted in the coming weeks. trump was suspended from the platforms after the january 6th capital ryans, a church official,

has been killed and a priest seriously injured after machete attacks in spain. the attacks happened to churches in the southern city of elk, a theorist, a suspect, was arrested authority say they are investigating a possible case of terrorism. 2 people have been killed and several injured in a knife attack on a train in northern germany in the northern german state of sledge holstein. the incident took place as the train was traveling from keel to hamburg. police were able to arrest the attacker in the town of bokes, that authorities say he's a palestinian man in his thirties, who may be suffering from mental illness. around 120 people are on board. the regional train. when a man armed with a knife suddenly began attacking passengers, people scrambled to escape and panic. my

doctor, my daughter called me and was dreamed and they had to get out of the train because somebody was running a mo, starting people. i'm randomly abroad was off mentioned, i knew stalking out. hello. did you buy louis are sitting near me. oh ran outside in the hall, so i followed them and there was blood everywhere i brought throughout the whole trend. so good luck. the says he 3 year old attacker injured 9 people. some of them sustained head injuries to passengers were injured so badly that paramedics weren't able to help them. they both died at the scene. the attacker himself was also injured. some of the passengers managed to restrain him and turned him over to police at the next station. there on f, provide people on the scene helped to pin him down. and right now, an investigation is over a, determining exactly what happened with the law is involved in how so many people in the hills. this is the alleged attacker is thought to be

a palestinian asylum seeker who came to germany 8 years ago from garza, a repeat criminal who's known to the police. he has previous convictions for violent and sexual offences. authorities confirmed he had been released from prison just 6 days earlier as the center of hardy, and this was a decision made within the framework or the law. and what needs to be considered now mentioned is whether a found on the continued monitoring or even after being released. but clearly in this case, it was decided that he had fully, sir, at his sentence, and gazette, outlandish offer for paris. sneesby holstein state premier, expressed his condolences and kept me to tea for a tower. i was devastated to hear the news of the design. always to turn off mister jose to talk to innocent little lives at tar and impact to the so many i mention. does lim, acosta. hurt on to feed my thoughts with all those who are caught up in this more

thought. situationally beaten, padded in which they loved to widen, unco, hooligan and either rookie sri ends at ward. soon, the alleged attacker will now be questioned by police and hospital in order to determine a possible motive. short while ago spoke to our reporter william glue crafters on the scene inbox that he gave us this update. or the latest is a 4th. things are back to normal. as you can see behind me, the trains are running again. hopefully you can hear me. the trains are running again, as you can see, they've been running again through this area since late last night, around 9 pm, the police and did the, the, the, the investigation at least right here at the station of walked stead. you can see there's some train personnel, a security personnel who are, are here this morning and some police off to the side, just keeping a watch on things. and you can see perhaps here, there is a memorial candle actually being having been lit at the station where people have

gathered were that a legit we're an incident actually happened yesterday. and 2 flags are flying at half staff to day in the state of laser carstein and in the northern part of germany on the danish border. as investigators continue their pursuit of what exactly happened yesterday, a suspect has been arrested. what do we know about him? any word on a possible motive about him? any word? well, as is often the case in incidents like this, there is much we don't know the police have not yet given a motive yet their stay so far say there's no reason to believe there was any kind of political motive. and as he heard in that report, the man apparently has had a, a long history of criminal acts in germany, has been in, out of prison and a german media reporting that he may have been suffering from some kind of mental illness. so there is mostly more information coming out today. police told me that they're not quite sure when that's going to be

a news conference at some point today. um members of security and authority officials will be coming out in st. laser college dine for more information, but when that's at that takes place that's we are still waiting to know william. thank you very much. that update our reporter, william blue cross there. ah m bonus, they a football darkman paid a visit to mines on wednesday. the hosts have struggled to make gains the season, but they had dockman deadlocked until the very last minute. that's when americans, jo rayna scored another winner to give them a to one victory. ah, don't them lined up in mind knowing that i had to attack the men in red without their best known defender, woke up when i met tumult was dropped, heading to the bench, wondering how his side would confront along held weakness in defending set paces without him it took 2 minutes to get the answer. not well.

an early blow pleased the manager, jason lea squeezing his head or in the neopost minds had made the perfect start, but have stirred the visitors into action. just 2 minutes later norwegian julian rice and had time to try his luck from distance. 11 after 4 minutes, the reply revealing his luck was most definitely in bows, fence and huffed, and puffed pleading for a mites hero dormant, brought one of the bench sebastian helen on light as he continues to take steps on the way back from kansas surgery. but he wasn't to be the hero this time, that on felt the same man. who did it last time. g, a reiner with his 2nd game winning strike in just 5 days. dockman climbing the table once more and the young american is again a heath. also on wednesday, fryeburg and frankfurt had to settle for

a point each when they played will one all draw randall column one, eas, opened the scoring for frankfort a few minutes before half time, france international banging in his 6th goal of the campaign in style there shortly . after the restart, fryeburg mathias into a headed home to level the score was young guns with a perfect cross and genta proving he knows how to use his head. you're watching the w news from berlin. just reminder the top stories were following for you this hour. you as president joe biden has announced his country will deliver 31 battle tanks to ukraine. announcement follows germany's decision to deliver leverage to tanks. this coordinated move aims to support ukraine encountering unexpected russian offensive in the spring. and a deadly cold snap is sweeping across asia,

causing record low temperatures and disruption. the freezing weather has effected millions of people from japan and south korea to afghanistan, which is experiencing it's coldest winter in 15 years. of next year on dw knows we've got conflict zone for you with a bell russian politician. that's after the break. i'm terry market for me and all of us here at dw, thanks for watching. ah ah, with

ah, with conflict zone refresh banner d belittles has to vote in russia since the start of the war in ukraine. but is that support to be sent to escalate into something more active from that could be are ciocca. he's you've political advisor to bellowed ocean opposition,

mita fripp lamasters. he kind of caught up. she claims to be the national leader of bella luce, but how legitimate is her claim clicked on d, w. the 2 faces of rose quartz in industrialized countries. it's a beauty accessory, costing up to 40 euros. in madagascar, it is the only source of income for a kilo, of course, a minor gets $0.10. the dirty business of beauty in 45 minutes on d. w ah. with leonardo da vinci's, mysterious masterpiece. this perhaps the greatest leonardo masterpiece and the

collection of the louvre and no, it is not the mona lisa. it is the virgin of the rocks, 2 versions, multiple copies drawing. was there another symbolic meaning to this beautiful painting that perhaps we just don't understand? the switch for answers store to february 10th on d. w. belittles has supported russia since the start of the war in ukraine. it's provided weapons, military bases, and logistical support. but is that support set to escalate into something more active in boucher cited. there is a consensus that we don't support this war, that billing sharma should not participate.