from berlin. tonight, with britain's divorce from the european union looming, france and germany decide to renew their vows. the leaders of both countries today signed a new pact of friendship aimed at reenergizing the european union at a time of crisis. tonight, we ask, is there substance amidst the symbolism. also coming up, living history. the emotions, the gestures, the facial expressions of actual holocaust survivors given eternal life at a chicago museum

and all captured as holograms. and could it be the end of a young man's life and his football dream? a plane carrying emiliano sala has disappeared over the english channel. sala was on his way to join an english premier league club. now the search is on for the plane that has been missing since last night. ♪ brent: i'm brent goff. it's good to have you with us. consider it a reminder of how the european project began. today, germany and france signed a new treaty aimed at deepening cooperation between the two countries. french president emmanuel macron and german chancellor angela merkel committed their nations to increasing ties and cooperation on issues such as security and foreign policy. both say they hope the treaty will reinvigorate the eu at a time of crisis.

reporter: a signature, and a kiss. sealing a promise of peace, turning old foes into friends. today, france and germany renew ed their postwar pledge in a new treaty signed in aachen. while the previous elysee treaty aimed to heal the wounds of the past, the new treataty signed in aachen aims -- >> as part of our joint systems for security, we, germany and france, commit ourselves to offer help and support, including military support, in the event of an armed attack on our respective territories. reporter: president emmanuel macron said both nations wanted to improve political dialogue, military coordination, and life for people living along the common border.

>> unity, solidarity, cohesion. these are the key points of the treaty. europe would not survive if we were not united. it would die. germany and france have a responsibility to create the tools to realize true european sovereignty in defense, security, space travel, migration, and managing economic and digital change. reporter: building a new french german economic zone and improving the free movement of labor are further goals of the treaty. they may ultimately help the french president in his struggle with protests by some french people who feel forgotten by the political elites. the so-called yellow vests even made their presence felt in aachen. the parliaments of both countries wanted even more intense cooperation, but for merkel and macron, today's

treaty goes far enough for now. michaela: quite clearly german chancellor angela merkel and french president emmanuel macron wanted to do nothing less than make history here in aachen today as germany and france renew their vows of cooperation within the european union. they want to demonstrate that they want to demonstrate that that franco-german engine is still working and they are putting that target pretty high when they say they want to coordinate deeper on defense, on security, on the economy, and those transborder regions, showing that europe can do this, too. max: but first and foremost this was a highly symbolic act, especially in these times with brexit, nationalism, and donald trump, the u.s. president endangering what the european union stands for. so, them signing this treaty, supporting multilateralism and

the german-french friendship, going it together, is a sign to the world. brent: that was our correspondents max hofmann and michaela kufner reporting. british prime minister theresa may is preparing to go back to brussels to try to renegotiate her brexit deal. that deal was resoundingly rejected by the u.k. parliament last week. on monday she outlined what was supposed to be an alternative plan, but critics say she failed to offer any new ideas. yesterday, may repeatedly said there will be no second brexit referendum, but she is facing mounting pressure from campaigners to change her mind. among them is former british prime minister tony blair. at the world economic forum in davos, switzerland today, he told dw's ben fajzullin why he believes a new vote is necessary. >> thehe idea is to chchange the withdrawal agreement. obviouslsly that is a matter of negotiation through the british government and europe. but look, myself and others have

been arguing in the u.k. that this process is a messss. this new agreement is to what the future t trading relationshp of europe should be, one people wawant us to stay close to euro, ananother want us to break o ouf the eueuropean trading system altogether. ththese are very different f fus anand our view i is it has got o back to o the people f for a decision b because p parliamenti think will be blockeke i doubt that she can get her deal through. there is no mamajority for anyny other form of brexit, and therefore the sensible thing in this situation is to go back and ask the people. brent: that was former british prime minister tony blair speaking with ben fajzullin at the world economic forum today. that full interview is available on our website. you can see it at dw.com. here are some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world. the u.s. supreme court has ruled that the trump administration can go ahead with its ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces. the court voted 5-4 to lift

injunctions against the ban. former ukrainian prime minister yulia tymoshenko has announced she will be a candidate in march's presidential elections. opinion polls show that she is the favorite to win. tymoshenko was jailed for 2.5 years over a gas deal in russia in what was largely seen as a politically motivated conviction. french police say they have detained american singer chris brown after a woman filed a rape claim against him and two other people. the woman claims that she met brown and his friends at a paris nightclub earlier this month before going with them to a hotel. tonight, china is lashing out at a group of former diplomats and academics who have signed an open letter calling for the release of two canadians. a businessman and former diplomat were arrested in china on allegations of spying. canada says they face daily interrogations and have had no

access to attorneys. it is believed they were detained in retaliation for the arrest of a top chinese huawei executive in canada last month. to talk more about this i am joined at the big table by thomas kleine-brockhoff, vice president of the german marshall fund think tank here in berlin. he is one of the people who signed that letter. thomas, it is good to have you on the program. china's foreign ministry are accusing you and others who signed this letter of being disrespectful and meddling in china's judicial process. what do you say to that? thomas: i am a private citizen. i'm a policy researcher, i do not represent a country. how could i be meddling? if the chinese foreign ministry refers to a judicial process, i would like to know what the process is. so far, these two colleagues have been detained on no real charges for six weeks. no access to them, no clear information about their treatment. there is really nothing.

therefore, we are calling on the chinese government to let these people free. brent: in the letter, you say that these arrests will discourage foreigners from building relationships with china and ultimately leave china worse off. why do you think that that argument is going to persuade president xi jinping? thomas: president xi jinping a year ago came to davos and styled himself as a liberal and as a proponent of a free trade order. now, if you want to do business with the west, you cannot arrest its citizens. that will backfire against you in the long run. and by the way, china researchers is a relatively small group of people who have a soft spot for china. if you t tn them away, you are not going to h have a very g god

response outside to your politics and your country, outside of your country. brent: we have been hearing a lot about this arrest as a tit for tat response to the arrest made in canada. but let's broaden that out a little bit. would you be concerned if you were traveling to china right now, would you be concerned they -- concerned after signing that letter that you would be arrested and charges would be filed? thomas: they did not sign such a letter and yet they were arrested and became a pawn in a much bigger game that the chinese seem to be playing. so yes, in a regime like this there is always a risk for anybody traveling there, which is why i would expect and would help from my own government to step up and step to the side of the canadians and demand freedom for these two people. they have indeed, a couple weeks ago, called for fair treatment. fair treatment is important,

judicial process is more important for people who are on trumped up charges to be let free. the german foreign minister has declared an alliance of multilateralist with the canadian foreign minister to his side last fall. thisis would be a grgreat opportunity to show that there is an alliance of multilateralists. brent: are you worried, we got a report tonight that the u.s. is pushing for extradition of that executive from huawei from canada to the united states. are you worried that that will make the situation worse? thomas: i am not a frienend of america's extraterritorial sanctions regime. it's an instrument that can be abused. now, there is a judicial process in canada. i trust that judicial process. the huawei official was let free on bail.

so, let's have that canadian process play out. brent: all right. thomas kleine-brockhoff, vice president of the german marshall fund, we appreciate you coming in to talk with us tonight. thank you, thomas. for survivors of the holocaust, sharing their experiences and educating new generations is an important part of making certain the world never forgets the horrors they experienced. one museum in chicago has found an ingenious way of doing just that, even long after those survivors have gone. reporter: who is real here? fritzie fritzshall meets her hologram. >> which one is the real me? i felt it was important. i felt it was an important story. it was difficult because they took me back into the past and it is something that i did not wish to relive. reporter: fritzshall is the president of the illinois holocaust museum in chicago. the museum has long considered how to keep the holocaust's

memory alive. fritzshall was 13 when the nazis deported her and her mother to auschwitz. they were crammed into a cattle car like this one. fritzshall says she has 599 women toto thank for h her surv. >> when they all gave me their crumbs, it was the size of a marble, bubut it saved my life d maybe took a away from theirs.s. in turn, i made a promise that if i survived, i would be their messenger. reporter: fritzshall wants to tell their stories to young people in the future, even when she is no longer alive. >> hello, my name is fritzie. i would be happy to answer any questions you have. reporter: a girl asks how she felt about religion after the war. >> what is god doing t today? looking at his people, sitting on a fence.

watching his people suffer. and so when i was in auschwitz, there was no god. >> at some point i actually just sort of forgot that she was a hologram. it felt so natural and, i guess, real. >> it was really touching to -- i don't know. like, you felt like you were with her. like, and you saw how much, like, how much it hurt her when she was going through that. reporter: producing the holograms was challenging. fritzie fritzshall sat for five days in a green screen studio in los angeles. countless cameras were pointed at her. she was asked thousands of questions. she never knew what would come next. with the help of key words, the holograms are prprogrammed in nh a way that thehey can give spontaneous answers. for every question, there are several responses.

>> the part that is the most important is the interactivity, so that our visitors feel that they are having an intimate conversation with a survivor in real-time and they can drive the content as we are all used to now. reporter: the message from survivors -- new generations must learn from the past. their stories live on as holograms. there are already 12 of them. the chicago museum hopes to persuade other museums to use this new form of memorial. >> thank you for listening to me. brent: there is sad news from the world of football tonight. a plane carrying the new cardiff city signing emiliano sala has gone missing over the english channel. the 28-year-old is feared dead after contact was lost with the plane, which was taking him from home of his former club to wales.

the search has been called off until daylight on weweesday. reporter: emiliano sala only signed as a cardiff player on saturday. he said he could not wait to get started. now his new club are in shock. >> i mean, words cannot describe ththe look on his face when he t us and we walked him around the grouous. he was absolutely ready to give it a go. and we knew him then, and we really feel sad. reporter: sala's goals in the french league made him a favorite. joining in 2015 he quickly esestablished d himself as one f the teteam's mostst reliable players. >> he was like a friend because we used to see him at the training pitch or stadium from time to time. we would congratulate him for his performamances.

becacause he was one of the players who fought the most. reporter: sala had returnened to france to say farewell to his teammates in person. he posted this photo on twitter with the message, la ultima, ciao, the final goodbye. the aircraft with sala and a pilot onon board took off from nantntes in the evening headinio cardiff. it disappeared from m radar cloe to the channel islands. the e search resumed today after bad weather in the english channel overnight. but rescuers say they are not optimistic. >> i doubt very much whether they were wearing survival gear, and the water temperature is just above 10 degrees at the moment. so that does not give you very long before you start to freeze up. reporter: sala is the most expensive player cardiff ever bought. friends said it was his dream to step out in the english premier league. a dream that may now never be

fulfilled. brent: the last two quarterfinal spots have been booked in soccer's asian cups. south korea edged past, 2-1. they will face qatar in the next round. a second-half goal was enough to secure a narrow victory over iraq. superstar footballer cristiano rinaldo has pleaded guilty to tax fraud in spain. the 33-year-old portugal forward signed autographs after leaving court in madrid, believe it or not. in a deal with the court, he agreed to settle the case by paying a 19 million euro fine and accepting a suspended jail sentence. the fraud charge dates back to his time playing for real madrid. russia has avoided a new ban from the world anti-doping agency, wada, despite missing a deadline at the end of december to hand over data from its moscow laboratory.

wada was able to collect the data last week. russia's anti-doping agency was reinstated last december -- september on the condition that wada was given access to that data. they were suspended in 2015 after a state-sponsored doping scandal in russian sports. business news now. steven is here to talk about the opening day of the world economic forum. steven: we know that trump is not there, xi will not be there either. so is this year's davos meeting a chance for the europeans to turn the spotlight on themselves? there's certainly enough for the continent to chew on at the moment. reporter: he is at it again. part of a promotion for a scottish company in davos. but it is hard not to hear a melancholic tune. after all, by next year's world economic forum, britain should officially be out of the eu. it is still not clear how, so the british prime minister canceled her visit, too. you might see prince william

cross your path. he probably will not be commenting on brexit, though. but others like this top german economist are speaking their minds. >> the terrible thing is that the eu is trying to fine a way to make britain an offer for leaving. that does not make sense. we want them to stay in the eu. we want them to be part of it. wewe have a historic opportunity to turn the situation around. the eu should be making britain an offer to stay. reporter: if brexit were off the table, europe could finally concentrate on the future again. it would do well to act now so that it is not left behind in competition with china and the u.s. >> it is time to talk about a new european economic policy. in the u.s. consumer sector, there is the digital platform economy. in china, we see how industry is rapidly digitizing. and one of the big issues here is, what is the future digital infrastructure for european induststry. and davos is of course a forum

where all that is being discussed. reporter: europe will try to set the tone in davos this year, even though everything is being overshadowed by brexit. steven: one of those who has made it to davos is the newly minted populist president of brazil, jair bolsonaro. he is selling his new brazil to the global establishment. he urgently needs investors to have confidence in the weak brazilian economy, which has been run down by years of corruption and mismanagement. reporter: bolsonaro told the world economic forum he is opening up brazil for business. he promised to fight corruption, invest in security, and cut taxes to boost production and generate employment. >> we want to show that brazil is taking measures so that the world reestablishes confidence in us. that the business will once again flourish between brazil and the rest of the world without being guided by ideology.

we will show thehe world that we are a country safe for investments, especially in the area of agribusiness, which is very important to us. reporter: the meeting is the first international outing for brazil's new president. top economists are surprised about his popularity at davos. >> it is ironic that the sessions with autocrats dominate and you cannot get into them, at a place like this. reporter: at a time when autocratic strongmen dominate the world's political stage, this year's davos gives bolsonaro an air of legitimacy. steven: and to talk more about this we are going to go to our dw correspondent in davos, javier arguedas. javier, was the business friendly crowd there convinced by what the business friendly bolsonaro had to say? javier: well steven, of course you have to giveve bolsonaro a lilittle bit of time.

we know that h he just started f janunuary 1. ththere is perhaps onene approar one aspect that peoplele here td toto mention as a positive aspe, consididering of couourse that s often n labeled as a populist. anand it is that at least that bolsonaro does not blalame the problems t that brazil has onn other coununtries, or for exampe on migrants, likike many populit leaders do.. so, , that is somemething that people are definitely rescuing from his speech. that being said, there are some very important crucial questions when it comes to how bolsonaro intends s to traransform braziz. and the questions are about thte price tag. will thahat be at the e cost ofe environment, or will that be at the cost of the poor in brazil that will not have state aidid like they y have now? those are two fears that we saw since ththe beginning g of bolsonaro's campaign that yet have to be a answered, have yeto be solved. soso the public c was definitely skeptical, especially considering that bolsosonaro'ss

address was rather shortrt and t really that long. you listetened closely to what he h t to say, he e mentioned agriribusiness i is one of the pipillars of howow he intends to bring brazil's economy y forwar. and d that goes in linine with e of the other voices of l leaders that we have spopoken to herinin davovos. today, for example, i i spoke to one of the leaders of the international fundnd for agricultural development, and he had to say what agriculture actually means, considering the globalization of the future. >> i am so much convinced that agriculture is a sector that will b benefit s so much from te 4.0, from the technology. yes, some jobs will be lost, but more jobs will be created,d, whh is one. secondly, today, agriculture is almost 25% of gas emissions. in terms of stood -- of sustainability. and to technology, that will also help us to make sure that agagriculture is smart, as we cl it, can be smart agriculture.

more important for us s is for e small holders. ifif the more we are able toto g technology to the small holders, particularly the youth, they can make sure the agriculture job is not the last resort. we will be able to d develop in ththyouth much more intererest n going back to the agriculture. and therefore, agriculture will be part of the solution when it comes to youth employment, when it comes to forced economic migration. javier: and yet when we speak about new technologies there is often the criticism it is big companies, big countries, it is the rich that have access to them. do you see the fococus this year put well enough into the smaller and d the poorer? >> not only this year, i have to sasay yes, the dananger is there that we have to make sure the technology is affordable, available, and user-friendly for

the small holders. but have to say in past years, really the big companies are very, very much asking us, what should we do, what can we do to be of help. from a business perspective, but also to make sure nobody is left behind. so trying too make sure we develop products that are adapted to the needs. so, our position, we are still advocating very well that it is important to bring the farmers organization when you u are assessing the needs and thereforore make sure we develop the prododuct that is ready in response to the need. javier: it is a very difficult task. i am very glad you're also fighting for it. thanank you fofor giving us a fw minutes of your time. >> thank you for having meme stevenen: thank you vevery much, javier in davos. and a reminder of the top stories we're following for you.

france and germany have signed a new friendship treaty aimed at strengthening their relationship and their country's roles in europe. the agreement includes an increasing cooperation on security and foreign policy. you're watching "dw news" from berlin. after a short break brent will be back to take you through "the day." thanks for watching. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

t two hundred france twenty four correspondents around the w world. it's nine pm here in the french capital headlines from around the world. fall to germany renew the european marriage vows to the treaty but what value does it really holds in the age of brexit and populism. elsewhere trying for trump is the us supreme court backs his ministry transitions of band with the latest fashion washington. also coming up the second in our series of esters reports from yemen. are often witnessed first hand the tragic humanitarian impacts the ongoing conflic. you're watching live