ah ah ah ah ah, this is the w news live from berlin, accusations flying over a u. s. spied drone that crashed in the black c. u. s. defense minister saying that he had talked with his russian counterpart about the downing of the drawing, which is res tension between the 2 countries even further altered tonight as

fighting rages in the embattled ukrainian city of bachman. we'll look at keith's plans to watch a potential counter offensive this spring and thousands protesting in paris in a last ditch effort to deter while makers from passing hinge and reformed changes that the government says are necessary to save the system. ah, i'm burned. gov is good to have you with us. the u. s. defense secretary lloyd austin and his russian counterpart, sergey shaw group. have spoken to each other about tuesday's drone incident over the black sea. the u. s. military saying that the drone was in international airspace when 2 russian jets dumped fuel on and causing it to crash. defense secretary austin. he had some sharp words for moscow. after that incident. on

tuesday, rush, an aircraft engaged in dangerous and reckless and unprofessional behavior. in the international airspace over the black sea to russian jets dumped fuel on an unmanned u. s. m. q 9 aircraft conducting routine operations in international airspace. and one rush and jet struck r m m q 9 aircraft, resulting in a crash. this hazardous episode is a part is part of a pattern of aggressive risk and risky an unsafe actions by russian pilots in international airspace. now i just got off the phone with my russian counterpart minister showing you as i've said repeatedly, it's important that great powers be models of transparency and communication and united states will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows

. well within 24 hours in one phone call later. what do we know today that we didn't know yesterday? i put that question to our correspond in washington curling a joy love rent a week is see we just heard it from secretary austin and that the us government does not want to escalate this incident today. yes, the crew tarry of defense light austin, that he talked to his rational counterpart as who each assert. and he referred to yesterday's incident as a troubling episode and said that it was dangerous and unprofessional, and reckless. but he also said that this is part of that pattern of aggressive and risky actions from russia. however, he added that the us does not seek an armed a conflict with russia, and that the u. s. will continue flying international space, and that it's up to russia to encounter of the u. s. aircraft in a save and

a professional manner. this is a clear alert, a towards russia but, but nothing more than that. they don't want to escalate the situation. and in that a pentagon briefing, we also learned that they are not certain if this encounter a yesterday was intentional or general milly. he said that the aggressive behavior was intentional. but the actual that the actual physical contact off the aircraft that they are not sure if that was intentional as well. yeah. and that is a slight change from what we heard yesterday. what about the drone itself? i mean, is the wreckage? is it still in the black sea somewhere? yes, the record is still in the, in the black sea, it's around 5000 feet off water. and we know that it is also deep in the sea, and that it is very unlikely that they will be able to recover it. we also know

that will sensitive information in the drone wants to lead us before the aircraft westborough down. so if there was important information, brent in that drone, that is not the case any corresponding currently the 2 or more with the latest you know, from washington carleen is always thank you as ukrainian forces continue to hold off a long attempt by russia to take the eastern city of buck mood, keith is now signaling that it is gearing up to launch a counter offense. now many are pending their hopes on new western weapons, including german, made leper tanks due to a ride. soon, the new hardware could help you crane break. the stalemate in many areas and take back a lot of more territory. russian artillery fires on past mode. after months of attempts to take the city, ukraine has forced its enemy to commit major resources and take tens of thousands of casualties. the ukrainian military says it's buying time for a spring counter offensive. part of the preparations for that counter offensive are

happening far from the front lines in spain. ukrainian troops are finishing their training on advanced western tanks. they hope the leopards will be a game changer on the battlefield until now ukraine has been using older russian model tanks. ukrainian troops are getting training from nato forces elsewhere to like here in the u. k. learning the art of combined arms warfare. how to coordinate all the high tech weaponry with infantry assaults on the front. a tank commander has high expectations. knows the concept and tactics of tank usage and battle will significantly change because western tanks have a higher firing range and other capabilities like a digital information field. if this equipment is used properly, one can destroy the enemy before the enemy approaches its firing range the her

pooler. analysts say ukraine will likely amount a major attack in shop. a reason of province aiming at the russian held city of melita hall, a successful push would cut through russia supply lines to its forces further west . there are factors like whether that can only be guessed at not controlled. spring mud can slow or stop tank advances. bogging down the russians and ukrainians alike . that means the timing and the target of any counter offensive, or still a mystery, which is just the way ukrainian commanders wanted are. let's take a look down some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world. russian president vladimir putin in his syrian counterpart bush. allah saw if he'll talk in moscow. talks or father were focused on mending. syrian ties with turkey and on rebuilding war torn syria, wednesday marx, the 12th anniversary of the start of the uprising that triggered the country. civil war in thousands of syrians have rallied in rebel held,

it led to mark the start of the pro democracy protest. back in march of 2011, the it lib area in the countries northwest is the last major area, not under control of president basha assad's russian back orsus on israel's president. isaac here talk has and build a plan aimed at resolving a stand off over a controversial judicial overall. but it is unclear whether the compromise will break. the deadlock is really prime minister benjamin at yahoo's plans to weaken supreme court. those plans have sparked mass purchase. lawmakers in paris have approved the wording of a proposal by french president emmanuel micron, to raise the retirement age by 2 years to 64. it clears the way for the controversial reform bill to now be submitted to a final vote in parliament as early as thursday. the move came as thousands of protesters took to the streets of cities across france in a last ditch attempt to convince lawmakers not to increase the retirement age.

the final show of force against french president emmanuel, my collins unpopular pension reform across bones, protest is turned out in their hundreds of 1000 desperate to 4th and last minute turnarounds by lawmakers union need is enough, said they had no intention of backing down the form is bad today, it would be bad one to be inverted for all personally by force. so we'll keep fighting with completely what called it, actually the raising of the time and tag remain unacceptable to us. the protests were largely peaceful. now. there were some skirmishes with pulling ah, according to surveys, more than 2 thirds of the population opposed my home plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. recurrent protests in recent months have drawn millions across

the country, and repeated will counts have disrupted the transport factor to coincide with wednesdays, protests union schools in 8th day of strikes in paris, refuse collectors will talk the job over a week ago. now $6000.00 tons of rubbish had piled up in some areas trash has almost taken over forcing pedestrians on to the roads, attracting rats and repelling restaurant visitors and tourists. it did surprise me alike cuz i was like, i thought, you know, people ladies told me like, oh yeah, it's very clean, you know, you know, very clean city. so just like a surprise me so far, we're not changing any plans. if we encounter more garbage though, we'll probably visit other parts of the city because we don't the garbage has done little to impress lawmakers. mccauley bill would bring france more into line with its e, you neighbors,

most of which have increased retirement age to $65.00 or higher. but with the union saying they'll continue their battle. even if the bill passes. pension reform in france is set to remain a burning issue. for how about retiring the pandemic? china closed its borders 3 and a half years ago. do contain the spread of coven 19. but last month, beijing declared victory over the pandemic. now, visitors have started coming back to china and the 1st chinese nationals, they are going abroad again. mrs. lees, shanghai souvenir sales struggle during the pandemic. now she's hoping the influx of tourists will help bring her business back to life. why to that guy? now i'm looking forward to the opening up to foreign countries as soon as possible, and people coming to shanghai yet because of the 3 year pin demik, it was that many shop owners have lost a lot. they don't make money and they must pay rent, some or even bankrupt. popular shanghai tourist attractions like this are still not

as busy as before the pandemic. but travelers who have already arrived say that they hoped to come back again. yeah, next summer i'm coming for a longer stay home i would be able to in life, my husband and son over have of it. they really want to come and see what we working with here and also to teresa jones. i am the area of course, pleasing is now reissuing all types of visas and honoring those. granted before the pandemic, the goal is to attract more foreign visitors. beijing is also working with local travel agencies to boost towards abroad. these new measures are already having an impact, as tourist looked to europe for their next vacation. i, we went to go to switzerland, cal, there's no language barrier for us there, but we want to travel like locals rather than go on tours. we can even go to neighboring countries with the shing and visa there, around 6 direct flights from china to major cities in europe, france, germany, austria, and switzerland were among the top destinations before the pandemic. finally,

it is a colorful part of japan's seasonal calendar. the cherry blossoms this year. they have come early and they have come with no pandemic restrictions. spring arrives in tokyo with a burst of color. japan's cekada or cherry blossom season has officially begun for locals and tourists alike. they see as blossoms are particularly special. and a mile, and i was still pregnant last blossomed season and it was also the pandemic this year. we can finally see the flowers with our baby on it for the next 2 weeks or so . i want to keep going out and enjoying the cherry blossoms in this warmer weather . now that pandemic restrictions have been softened. people can once again enjoy the season to its fullest. i think it's really amazing. i really sucks about

the japanese culture where even though there's a lot of people here in tokyo and japan all around, they still get excited. we're seeing the site this year mocks, one of the earliest dots to blossom season. since reco it's began 70 years ago. bringing color back to the city just that little bit sooner. ours was sports news, our fans of the german club. i inflect frankfurt. we're not allocated tickets for their champions. league last 16 game in italy against natalie, but hundreds clashed with police in naples. having made the journey anyway, footage showed frame for vans, throwing smoke bombs and flares of police who responded with tear gas chairs, balls and metal poles were also among the projectiles. while a police car was set on fire, the decision to deny tickets to frankfort fans came after violence surrounding the

1st leg in germany, which napoli one to nil 9 people we understand were detained afterwards. while businesses is up. next i will see you tomorrow with ah ah ah ah ah, what people have to say matters to us.