moisture to then to get the answer, learn more about this phenomenon. a heavy, invisible river that flows through the sky starts march 23rd on d. w. with this is d. w. news alive from berlin. accusations fly over a u. s. spy drawn that crashed in the black c u. s. defense minister lloyd austin says he's talked with his brush and counterparts geisha. go about the downing of the drone, which was worse and tensions between the 2 nations. also coming up as fighting

rages in the ukrainian city of back would look at the key of plans to launch a potential counter offensive this spring plus thousands protest in paris in a last ditch effort to deter lawmakers from raising the age of retirement changes the government says unnecessary to save the pension system. ah told me, laddie. well welcome to the program. us defense secretary lloyd austin and his russian counterparts. a geisha go have discussed tuesdays drone incident over the black sea. the u. s. military says it's surveillance drone was in international airspace when a russian jet dumped fuel on it and clipped its propeller, causing it to crash. defense secretary austin had strong words for moscow. after

the incident. on tuesday, russian aircraft engaged and dangerous and reckless and unprofessional behavior. in the international airspace over the black sea, 2 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 at risky and unsafe actions by russian pilots in international airspace. now i just got off the phone with my russian counterpart minister showing as i've said repeatedly, it's important that great powers be models of transparency and communication in the united states will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows

and hears, dw correspondence, curly naturally summing up the latest from the fall out, that we clearly see, we just heard it from secretary, all sin, and that the u. s. government does not want to escalate this incident today. yes. a criteria of defense light austin. he talked to his russian counterpart as we just heard, 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 u. s. does not seek an armed a conflict with russia, and at that the u. s. will continue flying international space and that it's up to russia to encounter the u. s. aircraft in a save and a professional manner. this is a clear alert towards russia, but nothing more than that they don't want to escalate the situation. and in that

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 of the aircraft that they are not sure if that was intentional as well. correspondent carlindo troy in washington as ukrainian forces hold off rushes continued, attempts to take the eastern city of buttonwood cube has signaled it is gearing up to launch a counter offensive. many in government are pending their hopes on a supply of western weapons, including german, made leper tanks, which they're expecting soon. the new hardware could help you crane break the stalemate in some areas and take back 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 up north with 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 of her bullet. analysts say ukraine will likely amount a major attack in chaper reason or province aiming at the russian held city of moleed upon a successful push would cut through russia supply lines to its forces further west . there factors like whether that can only be guessed that 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 wanting. let's take a look now at some more stories making headlines around the world. russian president vladimir putin and his syrian counterpart basher alice, had of hel, talks in moscow, talk her for to have focused on mending syrian ties with turkey. and on rebuilding

war torn syria, wednesday, march 12 years since the start of the uprising that triggered the country. civil war in all, thousands of syrians have rallied in rebel held a live, to mark the start of those pro democracy protest in 2011. the italy barrier in the countries north west is the last major part, not under the control of president alice as a russian back. this is john. israel's president is that has a, has unveiled a plan to resolve the stand of controversial judicial overhaul. but it's unclear whether the compromise will break the dead lot. i minister benjamin netanyahu plans to weaken the supreme court spot mass produce. china has reopened its borders. 2 tourists announcing it is once again, issuing visas. the country closed with borders 3 and

a half years ago. to contain the spread of coven 19 but last month, declared victory over the pandemic. and now visitors have begun to arrive, while the 1st chinese nationals are preparing to go abroad. missus lee's shanghai still in your sales struggle during the panoramic. now she's hoping the influx of tourists will help bring her business back to life. i to, that's i. 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 of what 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 hope to come back again. yeah, next them i'm coming for a longer stay. i hope i would be able to invite my husband and so no over half of

it did they really want to come and see what we're working with here and also to tourist young high in the area, of course, being 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 tours abroad. these new measures are already having an impact as taurus look to europe for their next vacation. or we want to go to switzerland, cal, there is no language barrier for us there, but we want to travel like locals rather than go on group tours. we can even go to neighboring countries with a 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. lawmakers in paris have approved the wording of a proposal by french president emma norma craw, to raise the retirement age by 2 years to 64. it closed the way for a controversial bill to now be submitted for a final vote in parliament as early as thursday of the move came of thousands of

protesters took to the streets of cities across france in a last ditch attempt to convince lawmakers not to back it a final show of force against french president emmanuel, my cons unpopular pension reforms across france. protesters turned out in their hundreds of thousands desperate to force a last minute turnaround by lawmakers union leaders in not said they had no intention of backing down. i thought reform is bad to day. it would be bad, wanted be inverted for or personally by force. so we'll keep fighting for, it's completely draw a tech ordered actually the raising of the retirement age remains unacceptable to us. the protests were largely peaceful though there were some skirmishes with police. oh, according to surveys, more than 2 thirds of the population opposed. michael's plans to raise the

retirement age from 62 to 64. recurrent protests in recent months have drawn millions across the country. and repeated war counts have disrupted the transport factor to coincide with wednesdays, protests unions called an 8th day of strikes in paris. refuse collectors walked off the job over a week ago. now 6000 tons of rubbish have piled up. in some areas, trash has almost taken over forcing pedestrians on to the roads, attracting rats and repelling restaurant visitors and to if it did surprise me alive, because i heard that, you know, people ladies told me like, oh yeah, it's a very clean, very clean city. so just like a surprise me so far, we're not changing any plans if we encounter more garbage that we'll probably visit other parts of the city. because we don't the garbage has done little to impress

lawmakers now called bill would bring france more into line with its 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. some sports news now and fans of german club. i'd like frankfurt. we're not allowed to buy tickets for their champions league game in italy against napoli, but hundreds clash of police in naples haven't made the journey. anyway. footage showed franklin fans throwing smoke bombs and flares and police who responded with tear gas chairs bottles 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 of the 1st leg of the match up in germany. napoli won the ty, 5 nil on aggregate,

to advance to the quarter finals. fever, president jerry infant, you know the most powerful man in the world of football, stanz, unopposed for reelection and 1st days fee for congress. gathering in rwanda. with those been fierce criticism of the organizations attitude to human rights under infantile, including from the german football association, did only spoke to association president bern, no end of a head of the fee for vote. see for president gianni and santino has faced plenty of criticism for his perceived autocratic style for his organization's lack of transparency and on human rights issues surrounding the world cup and guitar. denmark and norway had withdrawn their support for him. well, in advance of the vote, no, the german football association, the d f b as joined them. my others, him dog. i find there is often a lack of transparency and clarity about how decisions are made. that that's all

i'm asking for. nothing more, nothing less. and melanie vinegar, the relationship between the d, f. b and fever is straightened, that the f b says questions on human rights often remain unanswered. infantile, meanwhile, is certainly known for talking a good game. it brought me up, oh, human rights protection of human rights, international level is and top priority for fever. we put it as their condition in our bidding process is for all our competitions and whatever we go around the world . we are, of course, a highlighting the need for protecting human rights fee for had said it was open to creating a compensation fund for maltreated category workers that hasn't happened, but the upcoming fever club world cup was awarded to saudi arabia. does feminine strict white glove british cut off? for me it's about fif is credibility. it has to stand by the statements. it's

president makes it, it must. i have to admit, i don't feel that's the case. so i find it hard to offer my support type of infantile may not be flavor of the month in europe. but his huge popularity among the majority of 5211 members means his re election as president is likely to be a formality. coming up next, our doc films series this time, mozambique land of treasures and turmoil. as more news and d, w dot com, social media handles as well. you don't need to your medical thanks for being with us. and we're interested in the global economy. our portfolio d w business beyond here's a closer look at the project.