>> this is dw news, live from berlin. a dumbing down of the diplomacy to end the war in ukraine. in moscow today with russia sending trips to neighboring belarus. also, these are the first images the world has seen of the devastation in tonga after saturday's massive volcano eruption.

th are dealing with an unprecedented disaster and a violent escalation in yemen. a rebel drone attack followed by deadly airstrikes by the saudi led coalition. i am brent goff to our viewers watching in pbs in the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome, we begin this tuesday with that doubling down on diplomacy to prevent a russian invasion of ukraine. eileen albert bach -- on alanna bareback -- the new government in berlin is standing by its warning to moscow, any attack on any neighbor will cost russia

dearly. >> this was always going to be a frosty encounter. germany's new foreign minister on the home turf of one of the world's longest serving foreign ministers. russia is destabilizing europe. crites for the past few weeks, more than 100,000 russian troops have been deployed in ukraine for no reason. >> would not threaten anybody with anything what we hear the threats. >> in the west, the north stream to pipeline connecting russia to germany is increasingly seen as a diplomatic front line. in berlin, the clearest signal

yet that he is open to sanctions on the pipeline. everything will be up for discussion. >> nato is ready and nato allies are ready to engage. we will not compromise on corporate suppose. things are moving fast. next stop, the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken will be in an berlin this week before his own one-on-one with sergey

lavrov in geneva. >> we are meeting every day here because the situation is changing every day. what is your read on the talks held in moscow between the german and russian foreign ministers. >> the you can crisis is moving out. annalena baerbock hit the right notes. but she also expressed a desire

from the german government for substantive and stable relations with russia. nato allies have coalesced around through this. they will thus -- discuss risk reduction measures and so on. >> this is the highest ranking you can get from germany, dealing with a crisis. are we getting the same message here that is coming from this new government? is germany going to walk the walk and not just talk the talk when it comes to punishing

russia if an invasion of ukraine takes ace? >> we have seen that coalescing around the same message. this will put nord stream 2 on the table. everything would be up for discussion if russia attacked ukraine. this is something they have been emphasizing for a while now. it is good to see that the coalition seems to be landing on the same page when it comes to moscow.

>> is it clear? are we getting this message from this new german government if russia invades ukraine that germany will kill the nord stream 2 line? is that message clear? >> i think germany is reluctant to do anything. but it would do so in consultion with its nato allies. as we heard antony blinken traveling to europe this week as well. he is going to kiev tomorrow. then he ll presumably meet his russian counterrt. anything germany wld discard would not be around the consultation of the transatlantic context.

>> we appreciate your time and insights tonight. tonight, the european parliament has a new president. they have elected this conservative as the new there. she is 43, the youngest person to ever hold this job. she is only the third woman since the european problem and was created in 1988. alexander met with her and asked her about her priorities as the new president. >> it is a great privilege and an honor to be elected by my colleagues to serve as president of this house. it has been a verynteresting campaign with negotiations and discussions but also within the shadow.

the first thing i would do is honor his legacy and i will carry responsibilities he has left me and my colleagues with. as you said, give it a fresh base, more forward-looking and efficient. but also, become more visible and more effective in the way we communicate. i would like this european parliament to be much better in all thschools. that is when children looked to the european parliament, this is up that will ultimately protect them. >> let's look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. boris johnson has denied suggestions that he liked to parliament. he says no one warned him that the party might violate strict covid-19 rules. findings from a government

inquiry are due as early as this week. major u.s. airlines are warning that a new 5g service is due to be deployed on wednesday and could cause catastrophic disruption to air travel. they say at&t and verizon's id technology might affect flight instruments and render many aircraft unusable. at least 10 people have been killed in flash floods triggered by heavy rain in madagascar are's capital. disaster officials say more than 500 people have been displaced and they remain on high alert. the government of tonga has released the first details of damage with the countries's only internet cable cut.

communications remain limited. the blanket of ash is making it impossible for airplanes to land . because of the enoous distances, it will still be a couple of days before the vessels reach tonga. i want to bring in sean casey. he is with the world health organization. he is joining me tonight from fiji. we appreciate you taking time to talk with us tonight. it is the people on tonga. >> the builders are almost completely destroyed.

the populations have to be relocated. that is being led by the government of tonga. more broadly, the whole country is covered in ash. that is contaminated water supplies. the most urgent need is access to water. international calls are relying on satellite communication. that is very catchy and difficult at this time but we are able to communicate in very short bursts. >> we have these first photos, the first image is the world is seeing. >> it is disturbing to see the

destruction, these green islands -- it is a very green and lush place, a beautiful island. it does look like everything is covered in ash. it changes the whole image of the country from what you imagine it to be. it is a sad situation. they jumped right into action, they deployed their own shows. we have support on the way. hopefully this recovery effort can proceed. >> tonga, because of its geography has this luxury of being a place that is covid free. there is no coronavirus on the main island.

does providing aid to the people -- does that put public health at risk? >> that is right. tonga is one of the few countries in the world that is still covid free. there are no cases at all in the country. it is the responsibility of everyone involved to do our best to manage that risk. at this point, we don't immediately expect personnel will be deployed in the country. that may change over the coming weeks but if it does, it would require significant missed -- risk mitigation measures. tonga is very carefully managing its borders.

we don't expect lots of personable deployed. the supplies needed are already on the way. >> sean casey from the w joining us tonight from fiji. >> thank you. >> we are entering the third year for the coronavirus pandemic. tonight we want to focus on south africa. it was the first country to sound the alarm about the omicron coronavirus variants. data shows how omicron causes a spike in case numbers. south africa's fourth wave was sharper and shorter. crucially, the omicron wave had fewer deaths than previous waves. some experts have concluded that omicron is less dangerous but others are warning that many cases may have gone unreported

or undetected. the real numbers of cases and deaths -- they could be much higher. they are warning not to underestimate omicron as a mild variant. >> financial problems and the pandemic forced him to close his bar in cape town. but now he is finally reopening. >> you need to pay your eggs in different baskets. you also need to try things outside. for me, i don't test as well. i always look for positive things. instead of comaining. >> after nearly two years, most lockout restrictions were lifted , including a nightly curfew. tourists have been pouring into the country.

there were mass cancellations following the scupper of the omicron variant. >> life is getting back to normal icape town with decreasing numbers and new covid infections. data from south africa suggests that although omicron is much more infectious, the met of people admitted to hospitals were much slower than during previous waves. many are hoping that we see the beginning of the and of the pandemic. >> i wish i were not even here but covid, that is what we are wishing for. >> going out and about, relaxing. i hope that omicron is the final stage of this virus. >> to see such enjoyment and happiness, i am so happy that the business is booming, people can start making money. our country is officially open. i am glad that we can get to

come here and enjoy. >> many scientists are optimistic despite the low vaccination rate. many south africans had been infected with the virus before the coronavirus way. a prior infection or vaccinati provides protection against severe illness and also with the omicron variant. >> if you get to a situation like this where nearly everybody has had ior has been vaccinated then you can relax but on the other hand, it is something here and the big school break took place. vacation was short in europe. it is winter when people spend much more time to get indoors. the are considerable differences. that is what you can't just say

expect things to go like they have bn in south africa. we hope that the pandemic could become and i make as with other coronaviruses if most of the population has basic immunity from vaccination. i still have hope that we can get around regular booster shots. if everyone has basic immunity, possibly with a specific omicron booster and another variant does not come as a nasty surprise, we can keep ourmmunity up by regur infections with t coronavirus. no one wants to think about more

mutations right now. they already have big plans and want to expand to other cities. he believes the prospect was on africa -- prospects of south africa are good. >> 12 people have been killed in an airstrike. the saudi led coalition launched the strike late on monday in retaliation for her previous attack carried out by the who these against the united arab emirates. the uae is part of the military coalition. the conflict has left about two thirds of yemen's population dependent on foreign aid. >> fresh from a stone oven. this is the specialty in the bakery and downtown sinnott. while some staff members are busy baking, others are chopping

wood for the oven. that made their job much easier. >> there is no gas because of the warm. we don't even have -- because of the war. we don't even have any for the bakery. after seven years of war, conditns in yemen's capital are getting worse by the day. saudi arabia is blocking gas imports and the military coalition bomb to the airport in december. that made getting access to humanitarian andedical aid even harder. hospitals depend on medical supplies from abroad. the devastating impact of the work is most evident in the children's ward. 11 years old, she is severely mall -- malnourished. the doctors are overstretched. there is little the staff can

do. >> we have been here for five days and it is not getting better. she is getting medicine, pain relief. and in order to bake bread, they have to head out to the valleys. he is not the only one looking for word. the firewood business is booming. >> they spit -- split the pfit -- the profit. alone is worth around $100. they found a good tree. he heads back with a decent load of wood. those who don't own a car to get

to the valleys have to make do with the wood market. many women come here in particular. none of them wants to speak on camera. the bakery is too expensive for her. she breaks -- bakes bread for her family with the meager means available to her. they now have enough firewood to get through the week. >> it costs me and my staff a lot of time and energy driving to the valley and getting the word. it all has to be paid for. but he will carry on working as long as he can. making bread and a country where more people are going hungry than ever before. >> let's look at some of the

other stories making news around the world. four people were killed inhe city when an elevator in an 11 story building collapsed. the only survivor is being treated for severe injuries. lithuania's parliament allowed to vote -- voted to allow the use of q and x in official documents. until now, non-natives and their family who wanted to use their original names in their passports had to get permission from the court's. a new book claims to have solved a lingering mystery in holocaust history. no one was sure who betrayed the amsterdam hiding place of anne frank and her family to the nazis. the authors of a new book say they -- the research points to a

surprising suspect. >> her short life, one of millions ended in the holocaust. german born schoolgirl, anna frank. for more than two years, the teenager lived with her family in attic rooms hidden behind a bookcase in nazi occupied amsterdam. keeping a diary of their ordeal. until the family were discovered and sent to the concentration camp. now, a research team thinks they have cracked the puzzle of who betrayed them. >> we investigated more than 30 scenarios. i think we can say with certainty that the scenarios are rtually impossible. they handed over the stuff people in hiding. on that list was 263.

>> he disclosed the hiding place to save his own family from deportation. the directors says it is a fascinating hypothesis that needs further investigation. >> what this new theory i bringing us is not just the information of august of 34 but the behavior of people, the choices they have made. >> the mystery of who betrayed the frank family may never be definitively solved. >> you are watching dw news. the german foreign minister's promising solidarity with

ukraine against russian aggression. she met with her russian counterpart. you're watching dw news. trying to de-escalate the tensions with russia over ukraine. plus, look at the messaging app, telegram. do you know who is messaging you? we will be right back.

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reporter: boris johnson on the rack. the british prime minister squirms through an interview where he apologizes for anti-covid rules being broken. calls grow louder for him to resign. germany threatens to block the nord stream 2 gas pipeline if russia invaded ukraine. the chancellor told this to the nato secretary-general, jenna sonnenberg. germany's prime minister tells