d, w dot com ah air raid sirens howled over keith to day, as e u leaders gathered and the ukranian capital to discuss the country's future. but the sirens seemed to say, don't let the red carpet and the absence of military fatigues full you ukraine's present is that of a country under constant attack to pave the way for a better, a more peaceful future. the you bowed that there will be no let up and it's support for ukraine. i did not, however, promise, keep a rapid road to you membership. the war is not the only obstacle. ukraine itself has plenty of homework to do to meet exception standards. and that is a daunting task for a country fighting for it's very survival of nickel ferla, him berlin, and this is the day ah,

you were to support you and you were for with, despite the sounds of the sorrow and i want to thank you for not being afraid of those sounds. sure, you're the termination to forge ahead is impressed. ross, i'm for being on the sides of good together with us in this war. must already deborah and we should not talk if you are doing this while you are fighting against an aggressive problem with some of this is powerful symbol that will overcome any obstacles to strengthen our partnership and integration with you. chris with ah, also on the day a chinese balloon. the size of 3 buses is spotted over montana intelligence authorities, a legends being used to spy on the us,

leading to antony blank and cancelling a long plan trip to china. we, we know this is a chinese balloon and that it has the ability to, to maneuver. we do know that the balloon has violated us airspace and international law, which is unacceptable. and so we've conveyed this directly to the p r c at multiple levels. ah, welcome to the show. we're a family, but that doesn't mean you get a short cut to join our club. that pretty much sums up the message you leaders had for villa premier zalinski as they descended on keep on friday. it was so poor pledges galore, but the group stopped short of promising ukraine a fast track to membership in the block. lensky wants to get things moving. he says ukraine deserves to begin accession negotiations this year already. and with statements like ukraine is the you, the you is ukraine made by sha, michelle, the president of the european council. it's easy to see why zelinski would get his

hopes up, but the road to join the rest of the e. u family for real. looks like it'll be a long and winding one. this history making some it's offered up a flurry of announcements amidst the wintry conditions in keith. it was also a chance for the use top officials to demonstrate the growing ties between ukraine and the european union. the future of ukraine is within the european union, lucrative people. you have made a clear choice for freedom for democracy, and hulu, and re you with also me to clear the fusion. your future is with us in our common european union. ah, but in spite of all of them is the landscape attempts at these talks to build a faster path into the you. that future still looks some way off,

despite all the smiles and positive rhetoric around the table with know which it timelines. but their goal that you have to reach the forms, for example, to improve a situation in the canada country to then reach at the accession negotiations. and the session exec itself. also discussed the war with russia and a promise of fresh e sanctions against moscow. focused on trade and technology, but presidents zalinski once more immediate help in the form of weapons to hold off a predicted russian search in the next few weeks, said the gilmore, wiggily, these are conditions where the more long range weapons we have. the better equipped artillery is the sooner modern western tanks will start operating on the battlefield in ukraine. ok, and then with a stronger our air defense will be size, the sooner rushes aggression will and not shop for an employee. turner and protection of european security and freedom she,

it will have more guarantees. occasionally, you have to wait great misplaced his for more than beyond the pledge of new sanctions, came details of more humanitarian help for the country, including 25000000000 euros to fund a de mining program seen as crucial in helping ukraine rebuild. and in key hole pratt's collide for residents, millions of energy efficient l e d light bulbs, to help people reduce their own consumption and take the pressure of ukraine's crippled power grid with the w as been speaking to people in the ukrainian capital cave. and we asked them what they hope to gain from joining you. eventually, the promotion joined that you in the near future, it will have spread the message much pasto and conveyed people all over the world that we need help. and there's no way without it yet to my shoe. furthermore, hutton as well, i think that the victory will go to ukraine, regardless of whether we will join the you in the near future or not. if we are

invited to join the you, it's possible that there will be even more understanding and more help, and this will make it possible to win more easily. and at a lower cost of human life, see mine. sure, it's in, i put my hot man, thank what that, even your dainey does just as much as we need them. grandma ukraine is capable of getting out of this mess by itself because there are so many smart and talented people in our country. probably molden in any of the country in the world or love with her in this group. i was looking out the window like i normally do and i just happened just spotted out of the corner of my eye. and at 1st i thought it was a star, but i thought that was kind of crazy because it was broad daylight. and. and when i looked at it, it was just too big to be a star. the report said it might be a chinese balloon. it seemed so brazen and just so insane to me that that anyone

would even attempt to just push a balloon over the sky. because to me it was just like this thing is so visible in the sky on not a star at broad daylight, a chinese surveillance balloon. and he was aerospace that is triggered a full blown diplomatic crisis between 2 countries already struggling to get the relationship back on track in response to the alleged spine balloon being discovered flying across the united states, u. s. secretary of state antony blinking postponed a planned visit to china. the balloon was 1st detected over the state of montana which houses some 150 intercontinental ballistic missile silos. pentagon officials have clearly identified the airship as intelligence gathering balloon china claims the balloon is for civilian purposes, a weather balloon essentially, and says it regrets it accidentally sailed into you as airspace. and the u. s. military is of course closely monitoring the situation here is pentagon spokesman

general patrick ryder. this is a surveillance balloon. hover, you know, operating at about 60000 feet. and clearly, you know, we did a very close assessment in terms of what it's doing. and as i mentioned, military commanders have assessed that there is no physical or military threat to people on the ground floor. let's bring in bonnie glazer a. she's the director of gauge up program at the german marshall fund of the united states and she joins us from washington. d. c. welcome to the dates. good. see you . it is the decision to postpone this visit over the chinese spy balloon? an overreaction. well i don't think it's completely an over reaction if secretary blank and had gone to china, the focus of the discussions and the reporting would have been on the balloon. by the way that lou would have been over us air space during his discussions in

beijing because it's not moving very quickly. and i think also there's a sense in the united states that we have been asking china to engage in crisis communications discussions, risk reduction discussion so that we can avoid these kinds of incidents. the chinese frankly had been dragging their feet and this is sort of a teachable moment, that maybe they should engage in these discussions. and maybe that will enable us in the future, as we rescheduled this, as it to make more progress with the chinese on these issues. but isn't this now precisely the time to go and talk to she jane paying to de escalate? because a blank and wanted to go and as he put it said garlic grades to, to avoid misunderstandings. so why not go now and clear the air right away? well i think it would have been difficult to clear the air right away. ready

without real clear understanding by the united states as to what this balloon was doing, my guess is that in the coming days and weeks, we might be able to gain more information so that we can share that some of that intelligence with china. and we can show them this was not a civilian balloon. in fact, it was a trying to acquire intelligence. there might even be an attempt to shoot down the balloon after it leaves us aerospace and recover it. it's not a simple operation, but it is something that the u. s. military might try to execute. so having evidence that this is a, an intelligence alone, it is trying to collect sensitive information would help the united states, in this case with china. but it's not only the balloon is that it's ukraine, it's taiwan. so any other contentious issues that these 2 countries stand on opposing sides over? how strained are us china relations really at this point?

well, there's no doubt that the relationship is contentious. there are so many issues that are on the table that we have discussed. of course the presidents buying and c h and ping did meet in november. they agreed that it would be in both countries interest to prevent further deterioration of the relationship. and that's the reason why lincoln's visit was scheduled. so i think both sides continue to have an interest in stabilizing the relationship. i think it will be rescheduled. and i don't think that this episode is going to rupture the relationship. they will get together and talk about ukraine, about north korea, about taiwan, about various other issues and about bilateral relationship, as well as expanding cooperation on global health, climate change on posing proliferation, not counter narcotics. so there's a lot on the table to discuss,

and i think both sides want to engage in that conversation. yesterday, the u. s. announced it will expand its military presence in the philippines and a push to counter china. the influence in the region. how is that being perceived in beijing? well, i think that the chinese recognize that there has been some, some push back, not only from the united states, but also from countries on their periphery who are concerned about a military build up. the chinese been engaged in for a decade or more and the potential for us china conflict in the taiwan strait and the philippines geographically very, very close to taiwan and under new leadership with president marcos junior now in charge. he wants to have good relations with china, but he also would like to give the united states more access in i think the hope of avoiding this kind of us, china, military confrontation in taiwan. i think that we're seeing similar trends with

japan be more interested in taking steps to strengthen deterrence in the taiwan strait. so i hope the chinese to walk from closely. and i hope the conclusion that they draw is that their military pressure on taiwan is making their neighbors nervous. funny glazer of the german marshal fund of the united states? joining us from washington. d. c. thanks for your time. thank you. ah. saying that south to dawn, the world's youngest country is going through growing pains would be a gross understatement. and since it's birth as an independent nation in 2011 violence, corruption and hunger have claimed its citizens only about a 3rd of south sudanese or catholic. but to them, the historic visit of pope francis offers a much needed glimmer of hope. among the crowd welcoming the 1st roman catholic leader to visit the missouri christian nation was president silva here. hope.

frances made a promise to travel to south to dawn back in 2019 after hosting president here and his arrival w to reek my shar at the vatican where he famously kiss their feet and for them to respect a hard one sees fire. now, po francis traveled to south dawn from the democratic republic of the congo where he also appealed for peace and reconciliation and spoke out against the ramp and corruption and exploitation and africa. the studio, the more people was sadly, the history of many peoples of this continent has had to bend before the force of suffering. and violence is hipaa. if there is one wish that everyone has in their hearts one with the same, it is never having to bow down again with us before the arrogance of the powerful incident. beautiful. do you know the few or having to submit to the yoke of injustice? and to talk more about the pope's trip to africa, i'm joined now by

d. w. religious affairs correspondent martin gac welcome monte. so they want us strip to the deer see and sell. so don has been described as historic for many reasons. what stands out to you about this visit? i think that, you know, i think that the trip to south to then with our speech of canterbury and when the moderator of the church of scotland is actually quite remarkable on it has not really been the main element. the main thing in the spotlight, probably because his words, i mean, you know, he's words sort of in the context of the political discussions, loud corruption, etc, etc. have been much bit certainly very powerful and had been certain center front. but the fact is that the visit with these other 2 leaders of 2 major catalyst 2 major christian denominations to a country,

which is essentially the youngest country, but really quite out of the, of the geopolitical spotlight over the last couple of years. it's really something that is quite remarkable to see that this was organized around sort of so to then, i think, to some degree, to highlight the fact that, you know, the conflict. and so to that is, in a sense at b, tim isis. what sort of the tragedy of many countries in africa and lead to mary you know, in buses. so the world actually art. yeah, this is the 1st right francis traveling alongside the archbishop of canterbury and the leader of scotland church. so what is the message the trio is seeking to send because it can just be one of you stand for the struggle of an entire continent? is it one of unity? how do you see it? well, i think in the case of how to that, i mean this through that nation are very powerful please community level. and i

think that the appeal to be that, you know, which is 2019 that the report mentions in which he gives the feed in rome of both both leaders, which essentially are the 2 main players of what became the, the civil war and something that had all the, sort of, all the elements of sort of top down political, political movement. i think that in bringing sort of this to other leaders from the church of scotland and church of england. he's really sort of trying to appeal to the population and to the 3 major groups, you know, in terms of, of pacific age. and the fact is said in south sue, then there's been sort of a very, very active, an official diplomatic arm of the, of the, of the vatican that he's the community center the, the are the, does a lot of the magic word that later sort of major for years like the pope are members seen that and in the department of state about you can sort of coming in

and then kind of do some of the finer, more political words. but santa gd, actually has been very active working at base building on the ground. and so for really quite a while. and i think that the church actually has done a pretty remarkable job in terms of participating in abreast of classification. and so many of the post admirers here in europe, especially point to what are seen as progressive attitudes compared to pre assessors. for example, you recently spoke up against the criminalization of homosexuality in countries like south don saying, and i'm quoting him here, homosexuality may be a thing, but it's not a crime. let's listen to what one l g b t q activists had to say ahead of france that no lucas is in the christian faith . l g b t q. people are often stigmatized muscles. it is gone. oh, so when a representative of christianity of catholicism speaks,

words that push for inclusion for acceptance is you and that is something which is encouraging or who has always perception. and that is why i am particularly grateful for those words, disapproval. and just how progressive is pope france is really and what kind of reception have his words had in african congregations? i think it all depends really what is the standard of measure? obviously, by the standards of san francisco, berlin, new york, or london, the church is simply not progressive, and that includes a bolt. on the other hand, in countries or in regions, we're sort of the prevailing view is extremely conservative in we're sort of, you know, questions of home, of phobia or questions of this sort of systematic suppression of sexual minorities east. the rule of pope that from the very top of the church, condemned essentially violet violence against the almost almost sexual minorities

and actually condemned. the criminalization of, you know, sexual minorities in general obviously, guns across and actually takes the form of a very progressive fear. if not a completely, you know, counter cultural because the prevalent cultural wind or the prevalent political position of use, lee is one that is quite reactionary. yeah. i think that we should really take into consideration that the church in, in africa, we can talk about the church in africa in general. but so the community that can tell the community across africa generally has a much more conservative you know, disposition that what we would see in the current divisions within the catholic church growing over these kinds of issues especially, you know, between that north south divide that you just pointed out i think that to some extent, yes, there has been a backlash of very conservative groups. we didn't get the church,

but i think that those are not really part of the global. so it's, those are actually the catholic church and anglo saxon countries like australia and the u. s. particularly where they're the right wing. the political right wing has kind of a huge impact on the catholic church of those countries by large. i think that what we have seen during this policy across the board is that church that had last year enormous territory, enormous grounds to other political and religious in nations. has actually gained them again and spoke precisely because he's a very kind medic leader. and because he has gone out of his way to try to bring these people back into the fold. so i think that yes, there are. but i think that it's also has been a very successful reimbursement. the double your religious affairs correspondent watching doc. thank you. roger ah,

thailand is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations. and now there's another reason to visit for some people, at least last year, thailand removed cannabis from its narcotics list. and since then, sales have been flourishing in bangkok and around the country. legalization was originally intended as a boost for the vital tourism sector, which was ravaged by the pandemic. and now demand is booming. d w's gag mantas reports. take a deep breath for what's to come. it's potentially mind blowing. in this bar in bangkok you can buy s much cannabis, as you can smoke, there is reached to party and we to call you down the labeled promises. and it's not just this bar all across the kingdom. thousands of cannabis dispensers have sprouted up following its de criminalization last year. no one really believed it. it was even hard the 1st day that suddenly you could buy a can of this in thailand. instead of being afraid of the police coming. instead of

being having your ears p tested by random hops, pulling you out of a car. now suddenly, you could buy it, you could smoke it in all this was allowed in a southeast asian 1st time and removed the marianna plant from its narcotics list, possession, cultivation, distribution, consumption, and sales of the plant are now legal at 1st with almost 0 restrictions after the legalization, the government has come up with the regulation that okay, you cannot sell in the area where it's like school hospital, you cannot sell to pregnant people. about person who or breastfeeding anyone was under age. minimum age for cannabis consumption is now 20. but some tie are still concerned that young people are not educated enough about the drugs potential harmful effects. i mean, i don't like it at all because it's a narcotic. so it's bad far kits. if our kids get addicted to it's,

they will have no future. i get demand is high, especially from tourists, but with limited supplies. cannabis is still comparatively expensive at around 20 euro's program. in this shop, one of the co owners has been growing the plants at home long before its legalization. concannon's father suffered from cancer and needed marianna during his illness. although his father has since died. com is now farming cannabis in 2 rooms of his parents house and tied him and we could find legal to novice products and we couldn't find any of good quality blue a. so we decided to growed ourselves for my dad part. it's been a family project since the beginning of time, whether for medicinal or recreational use, the ty pauleen is already debating further restrictions. some political parties have even called for the truck to be criminalized again. but those of business remained relax. it's past the point of no return. you have every one from the

political base, farmers and rule agriculture areas who's given up tobacco. and then you have the wealthiest families where the power really lies, who invested a lot of money in an expensive grove facility. so from top to bottom, this is already transforming the economy and everyone is getting a piece of it. everyone provided they stay in thailand, that is, travelers are prohibited from entering or leaving the country with any amount of this modern cash crop. ah, finally, you've probably heard of stonehenge well now. another stone age monument has been opened to visitors in england. the thorn bro hinges are an network of neolithic circular earthworks in yorkshire, and thought they were built between 3502500 years b. c for use and ceremonies and rituals. 2 of the handers have now been gifted to the nation by the company that owned the site. and that's her time of really for me

and the entire team. thank you so much for spending part of florida with with india and sometimes the most common birds are the ones that are at ones are just disappeared completely. they find the survival, thousands of animal species on the indian subcontinent. conservationists are

committed to from the red rhythm dolphin to the common sparrow. with d w. what's making the headlines and what's behind them? dw news africa. they show that the issues have been the continent. life is slowly getting back to normal here on the street to give you enough report on the inside. our correspond that was on the ground reporting from across the continent. all the trends doesn't matter to you. in 60 minutes on d, w with leonardo da vinci's, mysterious masterpiece for this,

perhaps the greatest leonardo masterpiece in the collection of the louvre. and no, it is not the mona lisa. it is the virgin of the rocks, 2 versions, multiple copies, and a hidden drawing. was there another symbolic meaning to this beautiful painting that perhaps we just don't understand today? to search for answers starts february 10th on d. w. ah . lodge a small on land or in the seats, all living organisms on a link in the chain of life cooperating to some.