♪ >> this is it dw news come alive from berlin. european countries organize flights to evacuate citizens from niger. some west african nations have condemned the coup but neighboring burkina faso and mali are backing the new military leaders. also, ukraine commits new troops to a counteroffensive that has so far been advancing slowly

against doug in russian forces. and we look at how cities around the world are trying to adapt to intense heat waves linked to climate change. ♪ >> i'm nicole fuhr like. good to have you with us. a coup against elected president in niger. and germany is urging nationals to join the flights. the neighboring mali and burkina faso are backing the rulers and our threatening force to defend them. >> a warning from the leaders of

two countries. >> the transitional governments of burkina faso and mali warned that any military intervention in niger would be test amount -- tantamount to a declaration of war. >> they claim the toppled government had formally authorized france to carry out strikes on the presidential palace to free and reinstate the deposed president. the french foreign minister denied the claims. france said they only recognized b the initial authority. with the airspace closed and all commercial flights canceled, the only way out is on evacuation flights. >> we were asked to take just a small bag of essentials because we cannot take a suitcase.

>> the eu has condemned the coup , calling it a threat to democracy and stability. so far there is no plan to pull out staff. the european union has decided to offer the possibility of leaving the city on a voluntary basis after the coup. at the moment we haven't issued a formal order. the eu will keep presence in the country. the eu is monitoring the situation. with the threat of regional escalation hanging, evacuation orders could come anytime. nicole: earlier i spoke to someone from the university studies and asked how dangerous niger is at the moment. >> with what's going on in the country now, it's unpredictable.

they came to power on the bedrock of campaign that they wanted to address the deterioration in the country but now they will be preoccupied with regime retention. nicole: despite facing jihadist threats on all borders, niger has so far prevented militant groups from settling in their territory. how likely is this to change now? >> significantly, particularly if niger's cooperation breaks down within the multinationals in cameroon. what we are going to see is a situation in which the wide expanse of land between nigeria, niger, 1000, 2000 kilometers, if

it breaks down with terrorist groups in the region there's a lack of cooperation on the part of the two countries. nicole: coup leaders have been given one week to reinstate mohammed bazoum. what's the most likely scenario? >> most likely is that diplomacy is the part of trade. when you look close to that, they have invaded the country now in the name of restoring democracy. the people under direct consequence are the ordinary civilians on the streets. i say we explore diplomacy to the extent to which they stay in power. what is possible now is to exit

within the next 12 to 24 months. to follow the path of these peaceful recreational democracies in the country. nicole: thank you so much for your analysis. let's bring you up to speed on the other stories making news around the world. the myanmar leader aung san suu kyi has been pardoned on five criminal charges but faces several others and will remain in detention. the military ousted the elected government in a coup in february of 2021. the chilean police have seized illegal drugs worth more than 10 million euros. authorities said it included over 300 thousand ecstasy pills as well as 13 kilos of methamphetamine from europe. officials called it the largest

seizure of synthetic narcotics in south american history. an arms manufacturer will be building a new factory in the west of germany to manufacture parts for the u.s. f-35 fighter jet starting in 2025. boosting the german armed forces after the invasion of ukraine. a moscow high-rise building struck by a drone for a second time in only two days. russia accused ukraine of carrying out the drone attack. ukraine has not directly responded. the ukrainian president said one person was hurt when they struck the empty student dormitory. poland is sending more troops to their border with belarus after claiming two helicopters violated their airspace. defense officials said that it

took place at a low altitude. poland is a nato member and said the alliance had been informed of the incident. belarus has denied this and said poland is trying to justify deploying troops to the border. the presence of wegner group fighters has prompted poland to send more soldiers in recent weeks. ukraine says that it is pouring reserve troops into the counteroffensive against occupied russian forces after months of training by western countries that have sent to modern western systems. the boost in troops could be pivotal to the advance that has so far made only modest gains. >> this is what's left of the village, reduced to rubble after a fierce 10 day battle. a rare piece of good news. so rare that volodymyr zelenskyy

mentioned it alongside much bigger battles from last year. >> now liberated. >> ukraine claims to have liberated 200 square kilometers of territory. the frontline has only moved a few kilometers in the few months that ukrainian troops have started pushing south and east. trying to break through mines, concrete barriers, and trenches that have slowed their advance and costs ukrainian lives and equipment. ukrainians have hundreds of tack -- tanks and troop carriers from germany and the u.s., bradley fighting vehicles, challengers, leopards. they are indispensable in breaking through front lines but many have reportedly been destroyed and the russians have

been dropping minds into areas ukrainians had already cleared. they are trying to get the nato sourced artillery and rocket launchers into the range of depots, blowing up the equipment in the rear so the russians cannot use it in the front. drone attacks have also become more frequent on russian territory, in border areas, assaults with little military value. and there is an important staging ground on the peninsula. every liberated village has a boost to the beleaguered ukrainian side but the costs is steep. ukraine only has a certain amount of troops and tanks it can lose in what looks less and less like a lightning offensive and more and more like a long and grinding slog.

nicole: whatever reserve troops being sent into battle? tell us about the state of the counteroffensive. i asked mike, king's college, london. >> it's a good sign. the best way to characterize counteroffensive until now is slow and steady. first phase, they broke through, hitting against the main lines without getting through and now we have seen a slight up pick and deployment of reserves means they have something to deploy into and one hopes that in the coming weeks we will see movement. nicole: with territorial gains on the other, you said slow and steady but what do you make of how successful the counteroffensive has been so far? >> initially they threw themselves into the russian lines and realized that the mine

the russians had laid were more able to repel. as you said in the package, they have switched to logistics and critically started taking out russian artillery pieces. russian rate of artillery losses are the highest at the moment then they have been throughout the entire war. what i would say is that this is broadly what we would expect in terms of overall equipment loss from ukraine and russia as well. there is also time to run for this offensive from the ukrainians. nicole: how much time? it's >> they really have to get this done in four months. once we get into christmas, really, the landscape becomes difficult to fight and soldiers are concentrating on keeping alive because temperatures are subzero.

over the next four months we need to see considerable progress from ukrainians. nicole: what would be considerable progress? >> there's the gold option, ukrainians break through the russian lines and get through to the sea, cutting russian forces into. that would be a fantastic success for the ukrainians. if they can't achieve that, it might be category b success, the retaking an extension of those lines in the east or perhaps taking a major settlement in the south. that's kind of halfway to the coast from where the front lines are now. really there are two options depending on how far they are able to go. nicole: what would happen if ukraine didn't reach the goals you described?

>> that becomes problematic largely for political reasons. 2024 we have the u.s. presidential election, some of the runners and riders and that are not pro ukraine. they are certainly not pro arming ukraine. broadly they have given a lot of equipment and training to ukraine. they have done it willingly and happily. if there is no progress, they would like to see, to put it in rubbish business speak they would like to see a return on their investment and if they keep pouring equipment in, ukrainian forces with great sacrifice is not able to produce the good, it will become problematic next year for ukraine politically. nicole: what would it mean militarily before that unfolds? russians used their time widely this winter -- wisely this

winter. if the counteroffensive doesn't come to fruition in the next four months, will the russians make it even harder for the ukrainians to bounce back next year? >> i think that's right. information has come out of russia that leads everyone to believe there will be mormon -- mobilization in september. of course, they could decide whether they want to just raise 50,000 people or 400,000 people. seems like they are going for several hundred thousand troops. more than anything else russia will not be able to deploy them this year, but they can train them up and get them to the front lines for the beginning of next year making the ukraine job much more difficult. nicole: mike, thank you so much for breaking it all down for us.

>> thank you. nicole: heavy rain from a tropical storm killing at least 20 in northern china. authorities are warning that there could be more extreme weather on the way. >> they are struggling through the beijing streets, day to day life at a standstill. this is one of the worst floods in the province in years. >> we have transferred and resettled and persuaded tourists to return home. >> thousands of people have left and hundreds of thousands are still trapped. front-line workers are trying to get as many people as possible to safety. but it is a big task. parts of north china are

severely affected. wuhan, first responders saved a man who had been trapped in his car after it tumbled in floodwaters. casualties are increasing in other cities. beijing is especially on high alert. dozens are still missing as they paused nonstop. here and elsewhere in the regent rivers are -- are threatening to burst their banks, which could cause more people to get stuck. nicole: thousands of hedingham -- heavy metal fans heading to germany have been told to return home after days of heavy rain created fog like conditions. organizers have banned more vehicles from entering the soggy festival grounds and it isn't known how many of the 85,000

metal fans are already on the site. nasa says they have picked up signals from the voyager two deep space probe and are sending commands to try to restore control. contact was lost with the spacecraft when incorrect command misaligned antenna. launching in 1977, they are now 20 billion kilometers from earth. venice should be added to a list of world heritage sites in danger. unesco has said. the historic italian city is at risk of your retrievable damage from tourists, as well as the effect of climate change. a giant ex no longer marks the spot of the headquarters for the social media platform no law --

formerly known as twitter. san francisco authorities got dozens of complaints about the massive glowing x erected without a permit last week. the logo is part of elon musk's recent move to rebrand twitter. heat stressed americans in the southwest are breathing easier today after a 31 day streak of highs around 43 degrees celsius. we looked into solutions that cities are trying out already to cool down. >> heat waves are deadlier than any other extreme weather event.

last summer heat killed 62,000 people just in europe and globally the number is estimated to be at least several hundred thousand. it can feel 15 degrees hotter than the surrounding area. this is called the urban heat island effect that happens because concrete buildings, asphalt and traditional grooves absorb a lot of heat. >> if you measure the temperature, it gets to 45, 50 degrees. you are not experiencing the 35 or 40 degrees the environment says you have. you are experiencing 50 degrees. over 50 degrees. this is the kind of heat we need to address. >> almost 60% of people live in urban areas, making this a

global health threat. how are cities around the world adapting? if you compare it with a map of vegetation you can see greener areas are much cooler. creating shade for pedestrians. building up areas with avenues creating dense corridors resulting in a two degrees to five degree bump in air temperature. the removal of combustion cars led to a drop in temperatures creating a space for wildlife to flourish. >> good example for mitigating the effects are very old. starting from greek islands that have been built in a way that

are quite white. they reflect the sun. the interior of these greek villages can be even lower than the surroundings. >> and this is what they did with their central market. lowering temperatures by six to seven degrees. energy reducing heat inside and outside the building. there is one more simple thing. >> awareness is crucial for those in some kind of danger of suffering from the heat. for these people, there need to be mavs so that they can -- maps so that they can figure out where in the city it is dangerous and not dangerous for example to go, to run, to drive or to be in general. >> such vulnerability maps are

crucial for people on the move. now there are initiatives to create categories for heat waves like hurricanes. experts emphasize the importance of heat wave contemporary station, highlighting that just as we don't expect pizza delivery during a category four hurricane, we shouldn't during a deadly heat wave either. nicole: climate analyst at the london school of economics, i asked him why practical solutions for urban heat waves and cities are the exception and not the norm. >> several reasons. first, we are talking about extreme weather that only occur for a few days and it can be difficult for people to focus on that. we are talking about experiences and heat levels that most people in cities haven't experienced before and they are not use to adapting to them. even though some of these

solutions are relatively straightforward, you have to take them in advance. if you are going to paint the outside of your building white or fit shutters to the outside of windows, you need to do that in advance of the heat. you can't just do it when you hear there is hot weather on the way. psychologically the people who live in cities at high latitudes have to psychologically adapt to the fact that they are now in hot areas with heat extremes. nicole: the lists of problems and challenges that those people in urban areas face is fairly long. what aspects do you believe need to be addressed most urgently and how? >> most of the people who died had underlying vulnerabilities and illnesses. they tend to be older, dying inside of buildings that overheat. we have to focus on those most vulnerable people but we also, it's a big hit to the economy in

overheating offices. offices need to be designed so they don't overheat and make workers less productive. nicole: we are joining the game fairly late, though. will be even be able to catch up on time and create more livable workable urban environments? >> we are going to have to learn to adapt because these impacts are going to become more frequent and more intense before the world gets to net zero greenhouse gases. the earliest people are discussing is 2050. the next three decades will get worse. we will have to adapt or we will just end up suffering more. nicole: is there a political will to implement the changes that will help us? >> people are beginning to see climate change happening around us. people know that we have to do something about it. the political will is beginning

to wake up. we are going to have to think a lot more seriously about the design of our cities if we are going to make them livable places in the future. nicole: what happens if we don't? >> if we don't i'm afraid we are going to find that these cities can become hellholes, places where it is too hot to operate. we will end up with heat outside that kills even healthy people, they can die in those extreme heat temperatures in the high 40's. nicole: the time to act is now. bob ward, thank you so much. >> thank you. nicole: a bear at a chinese zoo is causing paws for thought after an online video prompted

debate over the animal's authenticity. this shows angela showing -- standing up in her enclosure, questioning whether she was in fact a human wearing a bear suit . the zoo rejected the claims, pointing out that anyone wearing a first suit in these temperatures would not last more than a few minutes. and that would be simply unbearable. here's a quick reminder of our top story. european nations evacuating citizens from niger following the coup against the elected president. the first french flight has left the capital. that is all for now. stay with us. after a short will be back to take you through "the day." bye-bye. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪

>> you are here on france 34 and france 24.com. -- 24 and france 24.com. ♪ >> france begins evacuating its citizens from tunisia almost a week after a coup plunged the company -- country into the political unknown. russia hits back at ukraine for targeting a tower in moscow for the second time in under 48 hours. kyiv remains tightlipped over its involvement. aung san suu kyi partially pardoned a week after she was shifted from government housing to prison. take you very much for joining us here.