ah ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin, a show of force from north korea as a tests it's most powerful weapon in years, a ballistic missile capable of hitting us territories in the pacific ocean. washington calls for direct talks with john yet also coming up a routine traffic stop turned deadly in germany. to police officers are shot dead

on a road in the countryside and the vehicle please. the seat. a massive search is now underway. afghans find refuge in the eastern european country of albania, as they wait for the us to take them in as promised. but many fear battery will never come. troop and facing of growing backlash. music streaming giant spotify changes. it's to non cove 19 misinformation. ah, i'm serious, almost gonna glad you could join us. it's been called north korea's most significant weapons test in years, the reclusive regime has confirmed it has launched a missile that can reach us bases in the pacific state. media said the weapon was a while song, 12 ballistic missile of intermediate range. it is capable of hitting

u. s. territory of guam with a nuclear warhead. it is a 1st time the north has tested a missile that size since 2017. and the report said pictures of the earth were taken in space from the missiles, nose cone. its flight was 1st attracted by neighbouring south korea and japan, which condemned the new test. a grandmother not done door beside it or not because of that, a series of actions by north korea, including the repeated launches of ballistic missiles, threatened the peace and security of japan, the region, and the international community in a little, okay. such intense ballistic missile launches are in violation of relevant security council resolutions welcoming and our country has made a strong protest today to north korea. natasha again, junior call you dutchman. we can speak now to josh smith. he's a senior correspondent with the writers, news agency, and sol. josh, thank you for joining us, sir. south korea, japan, as we just heard there. and the us have been quick to voice their concern. are they

right to be concert analyst and officials that we've spoken to here have underscored that these advances by north korea as well as the tests of all your mrs . like watson? well, i'm represent real military progress and real military capabilities. and so, of course, that could all become a real threat in the event of a war. oh, which they say is all the more reason to ensure that a war never breaks out. but what they do say is that these tests do not appear to be simple. our propaganda moves by north korea. obviously it has messages for the international community as well as domestic audiences. but these are real missiles with real military capabilities. and this was the biggest missile that north korea's tested since 2017 and comes after months of smaller tests. and yet we haven't seen as much a propaganda from pyongyang this time around. why do you think that us when they appear to be bent on developing their missile capabilities,

have to the time when there's less international focus on them. as there has been in the past, the kinds of messages that we have seen have been ones from them depending this kind of testing as the kind of normal self defense military majors that many countries around the world take. and that seems to be the message that they're putting out there, that these are message are. these are missiles that are not pointed at any one country or their sovereign right of the country to defend themselves against the policies from the united states and its allies out korea in japan. i want to ask you about the timing of this test, josh, because diplomats are working around the clock right now to prevent a russian invasion to ukraine. we know that relations with china are at their worst . and yours is north korea perhaps taking advantage of the west being distracted at the moment. that is certainly one theory by many watchers right now.

north korea appears to be testing the limits of what can get away with at this point. it's heavily thanks and are ready and it as it looks around the world, as you said, most of the major players are distracted elsewhere. the basic lucas are coming up. and of course, washington is, is looking elsewhere. so they may see this as a time to make more progress on these weapons, perhaps with less repercussions than they may have had in the past. and josh, just one last question, the u. s. is calling for direct talks. what could that look like? meaning we're unlikely to see a face to face summit between the leaders of the us in north korea. there does seem to be a lot of pessimism about the chances of those talks. not just because of the very difficult nature of differences between the 2 sides. washington once, not really give up the weapons and north korea has shown very little sign that they're willing to do that. but then there's also the issue of the ongoing pandemic i. north korea has, has

a very strict lockdown that they're only the very beginning to ease a bit there. so there are many obstacles scanning the way to feature talks. josh nathan, your correspondent with writers in sol. thanks so much. a man hunt is underway in south west germany after 2 police officers were killed during a traffic stop authority say they are searching for at least 2 suspects or believe to have opened fire on the officers when they were pulled over near the city of kaiser latin when back back up arrived, 2 officers were found dead. police looking for evidence. the lethal shots were fired here on this county road early on monday morning. the 2 police officers, a 24 year old police officer training, and a 29 year old colleague managed to place an emergency call. but additional officers who rushed to the scene came too late. if i can control it from a police officer's point of view, roadside checks are among the most dangerous situations. you can't know what you're

about to get into. you don't know who's in the vehicle, what's in the vehicle, what items you'd find there? and how will the person who's being checked react, and that was probably also the case here of out of his son, police have started a big man hunt for the culprits. not only and ryan and palatinate, but also in the neighboring sov region. it's unclear who the culprits are and which direction they took to flee. the authorities assumed that several perpetrators are on the loose, at least one of them, carrying a weapon. a switch to indigo inman as, as the interior minister of the state and the superior of the region and police. and as a father of 4 children, the same age as the 2 police officers who were killed with utmost pro talent. he am deeply shocked. you're familiar with your on the rhine and polar to ne police together with their colleagues from the czar region are working urgently. and i hope you understand i won't comment on an investigation that's ongoing. be a fight nissan leader. the deed also shocked the federal government in berlin,

said to spokesperson for the federal interior minister reading out her statement. we not finished our form independently of what motivated this deed. you know, it resembles an execution i. it demonstrates that police officers risk their lives for us on the job every day. my thoughts on the victims, families, colleagues, and friends. we will do everything we can to hold the perpetrators accountable how many miles i've been shot, the interior minister run on palatinate. that will give him all the support he needs for rapid arrests and investigations. police have edge drivers not to pick up hitchhikers and have asked the population for help in finding the perpetrators he that he is julia. so deli is following the story for us. julia, what more details can you tell us at this point? so the incident occurred in the early hours of monday morning during

a traffic stop on a country road. and it is still unclear whether the traffic stop was routine or whether the officers had noticed something suspicious with the other vehicle. what we know is that the officers found some dead wild animals in the vehicle that they stopped. the patrol officers were driving an unmarked car, but they were wearing uniforms and security this at the time of the incident. and there are now some reports circulating that one of the perpetrators is known to police and that a security forces are searching for this one person in the state of ryan them. and that's in it's where the incident took place, but also in a neighboring as ireland. and we know that the 2 police officers managed to radio, an emergency to their colleagues saying we are being shot they are shooting at us. but that when help arrived, it was unfortunately too late for them, and investigators are continuing the search. they do not know what the vehicle the

suspects were driving and they do not know in which direction they went. but they've advised the local community to not take on hitch hikers and to be aware that one of the perpetrators might be armed julia. how unusual is an incident like this in germany? such events don't happen that often in germany. if we look back, the last fatal shooting of a police officer happened in 2020 and that was during a special forces operation. so quite a more dangerous situation compared to a possibly a routine, a traffic stop out in the countryside. but there is maybe a reason behind the fact that a such inch incidence don't happen, that often that could be tied to germany's gun laws, which are some of the strictest in europe. and that means that there are not that many legal weapons circulating in the countries compared to other countries. for

example, if we look at the united states there, there are 12 guns per every at 10 people in the country. well, in germany we have 2 guns per every 10 people. so that is a significant difference. des, julia, so deli, thank you for that update. and now to some other headlines, at least 18 people have been killed in brazil after heavy rains. the state of sal polosa, landslides and flooding authority say around 500 families have been left homeless. the states governor has authorized emergency aid money for the affected areas, brazil as experienced torrential rains and flooding over the past month. portugal governing socialist party has been celebrating after a bigger than expected victory in sundays elections. the result allows the prime minister, antonio crushed out a stay in power with an absolute majority in parliament. nearly all poles had predicted a new were when for the socialists. and british prime minister boris johnson has

received the results of an official probe into parties, reportedly held in its official residence during the countries covered $900.00 locked up. news of the alleged lockdown breeches of the highest levels of government have sent johnson's approval ratings. plunging. though he said he will not resign, the london police are conducting their own investigation into the matter. you're in security council, we'll meet later today for its 1st discussion of russia's military build up along the border of ukraine. if the meeting goes ahead, it would see russia un ambassador square often public against those of the us, britain and other countries. us lawmakers are also readying further sanctions on russia. in case it doesn't beta southern neighbor. this comes as ukraine train civilians and the use of weapons and how to fight authority, say a 100000 people have received military training and recent years. in preparation for the 10th potential russian attack on their country. more recruits means the need for more weapons, but germany has upset its nato allies by refusing to send arms to ukraine. berlin

says the export of lethal weapons to the region could increase tensions with russia . the russian fighter jets in eastern europe moscow's military build up on ukraine's border. has he has a desperate to arm its defense forces. ukraine is asked germany for support, but as met, reluctance from the new coalition government. while berlin has approved the delivery of 5000 helmets, it said no to leave the weapons as get crowded at home. with right now, we're trying to engage russia and diplomatic talks to avert a war in the middle of europe. and i believe supplying weapons within the complete run signal, and it would not lead to an eating of diplomatic tensions and spinal as it ought to come. the german government is still deciding whether nato ally, estonia, continued, crane, heavy artillery maiden, the former east germany berlins policy not to export leave weapons to conflict regions is backed by the greens i speak by the dodge and state. of course it's

a central question. is it possible to be toughening gauge and dialogue with russia and deliver weapons? i'd say no. that's why policy is the right 119 and a subs in. we can always dispute that policy for now doesn't include a stop to the node stream to pipeline. but if russia does attack ukraine, chancellor, all of salt isn't ruling out painful sanctions. for more in the story, we can speak to alexander coff lanced off. he's the vice chairman of the free democrats parliamentary group and the f. d. p. is part of the governing coalition. mr. cough lump of good to have you. back on d. w. you are joining us from warsaw today. and the former polish foreign minister told us that germany should be sending defensive weapons to ukraine because it has a special duty to preserve peace. why not send weapons? well, we have a long standing policy of not doing the so me just as a was pointed out in the contribution that we just saw. and we have a situation in which the ukranian armed forces are militarily inferior to the

russian forces by a factor that could never be made up by arms deliveries. however, if the ukrainians want to purchase and procure weapons, they know where they can do it. as their foreign minister said, when he was standing side by side with annalynn about the new german foreign minister to local labor said very clearly, we know where to get which weapons when we need them. and i think therefore that this discussion is one that is more about domestic dynamics and germany than about the situation ukraine. let's talk about some of those domestic dynamics. we know that germany is one of the biggest arms exporters in the world. germany has made exceptions to this rule against sending lethal weapons, for example, by arming the kurdish pash america who were defending themselves in iraq. so why shouldn't an exception be made in this case, which is seen by germany as a serious crisis? it is seen as a serious crisis, but we have made 2 acceptance from the rule. one is the one you you mentioned

earlier. the other one was when germany participated in protecting the cause of r as against the genocide, and that was the dog attempted by, by the serbian side. the point here is that in both cases we had a genocidal situation or we had a situation on our hands that was imminent. that was was concrete. that was specific where violence was already been used. it was not a situation where diplomats were still talking and air when we armed the kurds. on the other side, we had the islamic state, the so called islamic state. these are people you cannot talk to, whereas it is possible even though difficult to talk to the russian side, which is what we're doing together with our allies. and there's one thing that i think is important for our viewers to understand should a military aggression occurred. the german government has said very clearly that all options are on the table and they remain on the table and that includes everything that we're talking about. he said that the ukrainian military is inferior to the russian military. no defensive weapons that could be sent would

really make a difference in the situation at the moment, but isn't this about ascending as, as a signal of solidarity to the ukrainians? and i want to read you what the ukranian ambassador to germany and ramonica wrote recently on twitter. he said, you should be sending the fence weapons to a stop, a new russian, where you prefer to get rid of these issues behind closed doors. this is a culture of communication that belongs to the past. it sounds like that the, that the feeling of solidarity is not being received by the ukrainians. well, this is a, i know andrew man is very well. he's a very active ambassador and he's, you know, doing the right thing in his judgment, by putting these things out into it. i think what's, what's going on is that we are expressing our solid charity also in practical terms of the ukraine, including a, you know, 8 in the cyber field. you know, that all ukrainian ministries have been hacked or just recently. or we are supporting the armed forces with non lethal elements. we have propping up the

economy. we opening up our markets in the european union for ukrainian products. the many things are going on and we are helping ukraine as well as we can. but in this phase, and that we say this again in this phase, we are still talking. we've just heard that the security council of the united nations is addressing the issue today, right? i would suggest to take it of the security council and bring it to the general assembly because russia doesn't have a veto there. so there are many things that we can still do in the diplomatic ground. and i think that's what we should between doing some of germany's nato allies are choosing to send weapons to ukraine. are you concerned at moscow might perceive germany's reluctance to do so as division among the west and see that perhaps as an opportunity? well, if so they would be mistaken if they read this as an encouragement or you know, in terms of a military, an incursion? no, i don't think that the kremlin should read it. that way. we have a new government, we have a government that has been very clear on arms exposed as

a more restrictive line that's going to be pursued by this government. it's absolutely clear in the coalition agreement and so on. in this particular situation, we are very clear should a military or incursion happen all options on the table. and i mean all options. but before we come to a situation like this, we try to save the peace in europe and that's, that's what the german government is actively pursuing. alexandra flagstaff and the governing coalition party that free democrats. thanks so much for joining us here. andy w. thank you. we take you now to albania, where more than a 1000 the afghan refugees are living as they wait for the you. worse to prove their asylum applications. washington promised to provide them with visas and permanent homes, once or applications have been approved. now, after months of waiting in the eastern european country, many afghans in albania are growing concerned that they might be stuck there and see their dreams of a life in the us fading. d. that is funny for char file. this report from the town

of change in another day of the andreotti coast of albania. d number 140 for alias nevada dish. the 29 year old flat from afghanistan after the taliban to control in august last year. elliot is a journalist, a job risky to keep under the taliban. his thoughts here, revolver on his sister's left, behind, forced to leave school. it's very hard to love to hear that your sister is asking for education and you don't have a power or a possibility for her to to, to respond hair idiocy, thankful to be safe. but his own future is also uncertain. a life of being in limbo . he says, there is no way to go back. no way to go for it are that you are stuck in one place for the last 5 months. silly us and about 1500 other african

refugees have been staying in this hotel complex in change in a tourist resort. they were told it's temporary until they are vetted for a u. s. visa, this replica, the statue of liberty, had been erected at the hotel by albanians, the u. s. as a patron of stability. that's the image. many locals have. this has been here long before the hundreds of african refugees who arrived at this hotel. some of them have told me that a statue has begun to feel like a whole a promise, as they wait out, the vetting process. he us wants to keep busy. he turned the casino room of the hotel into a makeshift newsroom with utter exiled john o'neill once they're gone. informed the world about afghanistan as the world's attention is shifting. it's very important to continue our work. it's our responsibility. it's our commitment to us

a journalist, to that paper. he's the online editor in chief for the at the law prost newspaper, one of the most read daily enough gone east on the print, no longer exists. the team here wants to keep it alive online with colleagues stealing, cobble. the work distracts from their worries about their future. i don't know about my future at that. what will happen? because we don't know when we leave albania, some here want to stay anonymous, fearing repercussions for their families back home. all of them want to know when will they move on? albini is interior ministry says that's difficult to answer, but it seems the united states may no longer be their final destination, no whom the one will have meetings this month. with the canadian government, they are interested in taking a lot of afghans in. but we are also prepared for them to stay in albania, eli, us, and all the honor african refugees,

hope they will not be forgotten as time goes on, after all, albania was only supposed to be a transit country. the streaming service spotify has promised to take action to combat coven, 19 mis information. this comes amid a public backlash about controversial content on the platform. the dispute as seen artists, neil young and joni mitchell removed their music from the platform. the you case, prince harry and his wife megan, who had signed deals with spotify have also expressed concern over vaccine misinformation. the company has now said it will add advisory warning support casts that discuss, coven 19, and the u. s. podcast or joe rogan sparked the controversy after he interviewed a prominent vaccine skeptic on his show, listened to by some 11000000 people. one of the things that spotify wants to do that i agree with is that the beginning of these controversial podcasts like specifically once about cove. it is to put a disclaimer and say that you should speak with your physician and that these

people and the opinions that they express are contrary to the opinions of the consensus of experts, which i think is very important. let's get some perspective on this with the allison stewart allen. she's a branding and marketing expert for international marketing partners in london. thanks so much for joining us here on d w. so spotify has, as we mentioned, bout to combat misinformation going forward. so does that mean that's the end of this story? i don't think it does mean this is the end of this story. i mean what? it's showing spotify, and it's certainly showing all other online platforms, streamers. social media outlets is that you are under scrutiny. and when you have heavy weights such as neil young or joanie mitchell, or certainly even prince harry and his wife, who are weighing in on misinformation and helping shape the content and keeping

it honest and transparent. really what this means for spotify certainly is that the brand is having to respond. now, why should the brand have to respond to pressure from its revenue generators such as neil, young and joni mitchell rather than having taken that decision themselves? so this activism era is not a one off, you know, joe rogan and his misinformation about cove. it means that people aren't happy with it. and some people with influence have spoken up. but this is really facing every brand, whether they're a streamer or a broadcaster, a lot of people. i want to ask you about that because we've seen facebook and youtube, of course, face a lot of criticism for the way that they've handled miss and dis, information on their platforms. so this really is much bigger than spotify, isn't it? it definitely is. i and this isn't just a new trend that we're seeing happen in the last 48 hours. this is actually where

users themselves or perhaps participants partners you could say in the form of the musicians neil young and joni mitchell are very concerned about the light in which they're represented. and so they're paying attention and they're applying pressure to the company. and users of all types, they don't need to be of that stature. of these famous musicians or prince harry. what it means is that the companies must listen to their market place and their customer. but before they pushed back, the company themselves ought to be guided by some principles and ethics so that the brand is not compromised. and this is really a, the, the, the era of companies being open for scrutiny. that is a permanent feature now of the landscape, and this is not a new thing that will go away any time soon. we'll leave it there. allison stewart allen from international marketing partners in london. thanks so much for sharing

your insights with us. coming up next on d, w. news, asia, how authorities in beijing are checking the spread of cobra. 19 to keep the winter olympics safe and the price taiwan families are paying for their country 0. cobit 19 approach to the corona virus. the rich bounder g of those stories and more coming up on the news. asia stacy ths. ah ah, with

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in the lan gym and for free with the w. the battle against cove it the only common variant is putting healthcare systems around the world to test vaccination campaigns or accelerating while restrictions are intensifying once again. but are these measures enough to stop the spread of omicron, fax data and reports? you know what weekly covert 19 special every thursday on d w b . this is did other news asia coming after day to be doing stuff as a spike in gorge 19 cases ahead of the opening of the olympic games this friday. authorities are stepping up measures to cobb this bread, but will they be enough? and what does the fall out for ordinary citizens in beijing.