♪ brent: this is dw news live from berlin headed the crisis between europe and belarus. the eu preparing new sanctions saying it must pay the price for luring migrants to the polish border. thousands of migrants remain trapped at the border and freezing temperatures. negotiators at the cop 20 climate summit reveal the first draft at limiting global warming

, but it is not a giant leap that scientists say is needed. another day, another record number of new coronavirus infections in germany. virologists worn if nothing is done, the death toll could double. i'm brent goff. to our viewers and to all of you around the world, welcome. we begin tonight with tensions at the border between belarus and the eu. the preparing new sanctions against belarus for what it describes as terrorism and human trafficking. it accuses belarus of lowering migrants -- lowering migrants then moving them across the border.

poland says large groups have been tried to force their way into the country. a claim that is difficult to verify independently because poland has created an exclusion zone barring journalists as well as aid workers from the border. >> beaten and bloodied. victims when all they did was ask for protection. that's what belarusian officials say happened to the minors in this video. the view from the other side. belarusian forces mistreating migrant women and children firing le shots to intimidate them. that's what the polish defense ministry alleges this video shows. neither claim can be independently verified as journalists are not allowed no the border. both claims it's examples of the escalating mia war. it is an increasingly tense standoff.

the two sides continue to blame each other for the desperate situation. >> we are facing a brutal hybrid attack on our eu borders. larus is weaponizing migrants distressed in a shocking way. >> the belarusian leader is quick to fire back against the eu. >> you have been forced sanctions against me. you started hybrid war. mass media, the economy, politics. now, the military and security. you want me to protect you? >> meanwhile, they're are the ones caught in the crossfire. thousands of migrants camped out in the cold. among them, babies said to be as young as two months old. poland has declared a state of emergency along the border and shut official crossing points

adding to the despair. why is poland closed? i want to go to germany, not poland. nobody wants to stay in poland. cliques why do you go to germany? >> it's a good country. >> most of the migrants come from the middle east. people fleeing war, poverty, now used as pawns that is proving deadly. close to one dozen migrants have lost their life so far. some of exhaustion, others freezing to death. human rights groups warn the situation has grown worse by the day. with food and medicine and short supply and subzero temperatures dipping further. a humanitarian crisis unfolding as the conflict grows. brent: with no resolution in

sight, angela merkel says she has asked vladimir putin to intervene. they spoke by phone earlier today. >> i would like to thank the countries currently protecting the border. latvia, lithuania, and poland. you have all seen the images which are cause for concern. i spoke to vladimir putin today and asked him to appeal to president lukashenko. because people are being used. they are victims of an inhumane policy and something must be done about it. brent: let's pull in our political correspondent. what do we know about this phone conversation? >> german leaders and angela merkel, they have been using stronger words in recent days to refer to what is happening.

also toward belarus. that was clear from angela merkel when she spoke to vladimir putin earlier today. her spokesman referring to that phone call and within the eu, there is an understanding that she is on her way out, that her influence might be waning. it is also clear that one area in which she can't play a role is by talking to vladimir putin, a leader with whom she has had a working relationship throughout her career as chancellor. both leaders have differences, but angela merkel has stressed time and time again the importance of having channels of communication with russia and there is hope that one of those channels but have an impact in the put go crisis. the big question now is how russia will react and what measures will russia clement to help try to resolve this difficult situation. brent: how much influence does

germany have on the situation? it's hard to imagine that the president of belarus would be doing what he is doing without the blessing in support of the kremlin. >> angela merkel hopes that president putin could have influence and change things, but that is not the only element we have to discuss. european leaders have also been talking for a long time on sanctions. the german foreign ministry also supports the idea of new sanctions against the fellow russian regime. gush belarusian regime. it's also clear from the eu perspective that european leaders understand that germany plays a role, but their unders -- interested in knowing what will come next from germany's new government which as you know

is still being discussed. brent: our political correspondent, thank you. we want to take this story, to go as close as we can. our correspondent is near the border tonight. what is the situation there at the border? >> journalists are still not allowed into the exclusion zone the poland is implemented at the border with belarus. unfortunately, i have to say that we have to rely on the polish border guards are posting on social media and what they are saying. they are posting a lot of video material allegedly showing belarusian border guards pushing migrants toward the border. this is only one side of the story. i cannot go there to verify if this is actually happening in that way. i talked to a local person,

young woman. she lives in this zone. she sometimes helps refugees and migrants in the region because she says no one else can. she says come the only one allowed to enter there because i live there. she is handing out like it's, etc.. there a couple of migrants and refugees in the woods. it is quite cold here. i can only matt imagine -- imagine it must be colder in the forest. brent: what about talking to the migrants who have been able to cross the border? have you been able to talk to them? >> i talked to two syrian men today in refugee shelter. they both arrived a couple of days ago. they are not part of this group that we see right now at the

border, but they have a similar story. they said they went to the belarusian embassy in syria then flew to minsk then came by taxi to the border then apparently, they were hit by border guards multiple times. one of them had broken ribs. they tried to cross the border or they were forced to cross the border and they were pushed back by polish border guards. somehow, they managed to cross the border. they stayed in the woods for a couple of days in the co freezing without food. the ngo helped them to get into refugee shelters where they want to apply for asylum in poland. brent: thank you. most of the migrants who have crossed the border into poland say they want to keep moving

until they reach germany. that would be in violation of eu law. migrants seeking asylum must apply in the first eu country they enter, in this case poland. this is only one legal hurdle. we spoke with one migrant who made the trek. >> it is the end of an arduous journey. he made it across belarus to germany despite adversity. he had to spend a long time at the eu border because the polish border control illegally returned him to the other side. >> i started screaming asylum. please help us. we cannot go back there. we have been on the road for two days. we have been walking for hours. we are tired, hungry, we need water. they threw me on the floor. i told them be careful, i have a condition. they said we can't do anything

for you. we will bring you back to the border. he tried again and the second time, he made across the border. for him and any others, it is unclear if there will be able to stay in germany. this year, over 8000 people have illegally crossed from belarus to germany. lukashenko is allegedly allowing them to do so to put pressure on europe. refugees tell her their stories every day. >> it's very cold. four days we don't have enough water. we can't open the fire. >> many of them suffer not only do to what is happening in their

country of origin, but also due to the traumatic experiences that they experience on the way to europe including poland, belarus, what is happening on the border with poland now. >> refugees are supposed to apply for asylum in the first eu country they enter. many of them want to continue on to germany. >> germany should take the responsibility of the first safe country. that is my personal opinion. until the situation in poland changes and there is a law giving basic human rights to this people. >> this person also wants to stay in germany. he hopes to get medical help so he can walk again. he still lives in e initial reception cap on the border.

he has no choice but to wait and see what will happen next. brent: let's look at some other stories. japan's emperor has formally -- form -- appointed the next head of government. liberal democrats came out on top. the u.s. journalist jailed in myanmar is facing new charges of terrorism and sedition. he could face-present if convicted. he is already being charged on three other charges. the u.s. has urged the military rulers to release him immediately. snow and blizzard alerts are in effect for parts of northern china as the region faces unseasonably cold weather. rescue teams freed some motorists trapped in their frozen vehles while others had to contend with snow drift one meter high. some took accretive attitude to dealing with this note.

flooding in sri lanka has left 20 people dead and thousands more to flee their homes. the majority of deaths were caused by drowned link -- drowning or lightning strikes. this year, the season has seen a higher than usual amount of rainfall. china and the united states say they plan to work together to tackle climate change. this announcement made today at the cop26 climate summit. china's top envoy telling delegates that china and the u.s. recognize there is a gap between the current effort and the paris agreement goals. they pledge they would jointly strengthen climate action. it is hope that this move means the biggest greenhouse gas emitters are finally willing to end the war of words and start talking. our environment reporter joins us from cop26 and glasgow.

we had china and the united states talki, the world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases making joint statement today. is this a potential game changer that people have been waiting for? >> it could well be. china is the world's biggest polluter and the u.s. is the world's biggest historical polluter. between these two, have a big say in whether the world will meet its climate targets at the meeting limiting warning -- warming to 1.5 degrees celsius. the declaration itself talks about being more ambitious with phasing out coal and setting better plans. it is light on numbers. an open question is when china will peak its emissions and how fast it will come down afterwards. analysts have been saying this is a positive step forward and

signal operation that has not been seen so far. it comes ahead of a virtual meeting next week between the leaderof both couries, joe biden and xi jinping. this could be a helpful step forward for delegates here at the summit to come to decisions what they will come out with at the end of this conference and a couple of days. brent: earlier today, a draft agreement was released. it was quickly dismissed as inadequate. tell us about what is inside that draft. >> this draft urges world leaders to submit to more ambitious action plans cutting their emissions, stopping to burn fossil fuels. that would have to be submitted by next year. it would be a plan for 2030 submitted ne year. it is a very concrete step

forward in terms of cutting emissions now and not just leaving the bulk of the work until midcentury as a lot of these pledges have been criticized for doing. the draft text talks about phasing out the use of coal and ending subsidies for fossil fuel. if these lines make it into the final text, that would be a massive step forward for the climate. it be the first time in 25 years of climate negotiations were fossil fuels are mentioned. analysts are skeptical with responses from some campaigners saying this is not enough. it's not addressing the elephant in the room which is countries annually committingith windin targets to cut their emissions here year-by-year. >> there was a pledge made today by several automakers that would spell the end of gasoline and diesel powered vehicles. tell us about that.

>> the pledge made today by about two dozen countries and several car manufacturers was to ban the sale of fossil fueled cars with internal combustion that burn things like gas and diesel to run. to phase out their sales by 2035 in leading markets and 2040 mobley. this is a positive step forward. it is worth stressing that this is not compatible yet with roadmaps for cutting emissions in line with the paris agreement target. the international agent -- energy agency says that to do so, combustion engincars would be phased out 2035 mobley. -- globally. brent: thank you. delegates at the climate talks

have been hearing calls for urgent action to protect vulnerable regions of the planet. in latin america, one cause of environmental degradation is logging. we meet to activists who are campaigning to stop deforestation. >> the river has practically dried up. much less rain than usual has fallen upstream this year. shipping traffic is now heavily restricted. journalists and environmental campaigner has been sounding the alarm for years. he says the lack of water is the result of more logging in brazil and argentina. >> low rainfall, deforestation, climate change are all responsible for low water level. the consequences are drastic. the river is disappearing. >> bruno is brazil's answer to

credit term bird. -- he set up a new -- a movement in the region. until recently, he has been something of a lone voice. >> people in argentina are only now beginning to feel concerned about the environment. extreme weather events are a wake-up call that we need to take action. >> bruno and henrique address the challenges and climate change. we cannot allow europe to move to electric vehicles at the expense of argentina. recklessly extracting lithium to make car batteries is not sustainable development. >> salt lakes in northern argentina hold sizab reserves of with the.

muinationals including carmakers are keen to exploit the supplies. they are worried about the environment impact. the worst thing of all would be an energy revolution in the northern hemisphere. you can't have unconstrained lithium extraction. just so that every european can have an electric car. >> campaigners in the uthern hemisphere want the northern industrial countries to take responsibility for the climate emergency that now affects us all. the grnhouse gases pumped out originations in the north are more to blame for global warming than places like argentina. bruno is taking his message to the climate summit in glasgow, a

voice from the south reminding the north of its response abilities. >> germany on tuesday recorded more than 39,000 new covid-19 infections. that's another new record. angela merkel has called for a meeting with regional leaders, but there is no consensus on when that will take place. one of the top virologists is warning of a deadly winter. >> their fears hospitals could be overwhelmed. germany is in the midst of the fourth wave of the pandemic and as angela merkel's government repairs to leave, people are divided on who should play a more active role. >> i think the parties forming the new government are clearly responsible. now, they have to show they have good judgment and expense ability.

>> everyone is responsible for their own behavior. if everyone followed the rules, we would have far fewer problems. >> i think it's still the outgoing government that should do it. the new one has not been formed and is not working yet. it's important to take action now. >> is the outgoing government aware of the urgency? >> the coronavirus does not care whether we have a caretaker government or coalition talks. we need a renewed national effort. that is why i am calling for a meeting with regional leaders and federal ministers soon as possible in order to implement coordinated measures in germany. >> a dangerous situation that

according to one of the most prominent virologists is even worse than one year ago. it is perfectly clear looking at the infection rate that the vaccination gaps need to be closed or alternatively, we will need to tolerate a high number of deaths, probably more than 100,000 people. is the number of new cases continue to rise, there are questions about whether germany's caretaker government is doing enough to fight the pandemic. brent: let's take a look at some other develop its. an advisory committee recommends the people below the age of 30 should receive only the pfizer vaccine as it has less chance of causing heart inflammation and younger people than other vaccines. debbie ho says that europe -- the world health organization says that europe is the only place where cases and deaths are increasing. guinea is vaccinating 12 to

17-year-olds after receiving the vaccines. it is the first west african country to rollout vaccines for that age group. a french swimmer is attempting to traverse the entire 122 kilometer length of a lake in bolivia. he will be accompanied by a former professional swimmer and an eco-adventurer. they received traditional blessing before leaving for the journey. they have been training for more than a year and a half and they will have made quite a splash if they can get it done. here's a quick reminder of the top story we are following. brussels is preparing new sanctions against belarus saying belarus must pay a price for lowering migrants to the border between belarus and poland with the promise of entering the eu.

fears of a crisis are growing as thousands of migrants remain trapped at the border in freezing temperatures. a draft decision from the cop26 climate summit calls on countries to step up their emissions goals by 2022. data shows that current plans are far from limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees celsius. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. the path to avert a climate catastrophe. what about the nuclear option? we will be right back.

anchor: "france 24." these are the headlines. russia and nato on a collision course over belarus. russia sent embalmers, minsk -- embalmers -- bombers, minsk denies. artifacts handed back on african soil. they wer taken in 1892, and have been returned.