charges brought against him by the company s shareholders. raise your voices against injustice the call from pope francis to south sudan s christian leaders on his first full day in the world s newest country, which remains plagued by violence and extreme poverty. and it s one of mother nature s greatest displays, flock of starlings. china has made another attempt to calm the diplomatic crisis caused by the detection of a chinese surveillance balloon over the united states. the top foreign policy official wang yi has discussed the dispute with the us secretary of state anthony blinken, who postponed a trip to beijing this weekend in response to the dispute. by the detection of a chinese surveillance balloon over the united states. the top foreign policy official wang yi has discussed the dispute with the us secretary of state anthony blinken, who postponed a trip to beijing this weekend in response to the dispute. china insists the balloon is a weather obervation airship
after much pressure and anticipation, there are reports in the german media that the country will send leopard 2 battle tanks to ukraine. reports suggest olaf scholz will give the go ahead to send 1a tanks, paving the way for poland german made analysts say this could be a game changerfor ukraine in its efforts to repel russian troops from its territory. sofia bettiza has the latest. he has been hesitant for days, but now, after mounting pressure, the german chancellor appears to have finally given the green light. according to german media, he will send at least 1a leopard tanks to kyiv. these are world class weapons stock produced in germany, they are widely seen as the best fit for ukraine. at least 16 european nato countries have them, but until now, they weren t allowed to export them because germany had to give permission. something that caused some frustration. the polish prime minister accused germany of acting in a way that was difficult to understand. in particular,
welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. we start with the humanitarian crisis in afghanistan. ever since the taliban seized power again in 2021, millions of women and girls have lost access to education and other freedoms. the country is now facing a humanitarian crisis, with its coldest winter in a decade. temperatures are as low as minus 31 degrees celsius. the united nations estimates that 97% of afghans are living in poverty. some 20 million people are facing acute hunger. two thirds of afghans are in need of humanitarian assistance, including clean water and sanitation, and yet the taliban is refusing to lift the ban on female aid workers that ban was confirmed in a statement to the bbc today. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet has travelled to the salang in the hindu kush to see how bad things are. a winter wonderland of aching beauty, but brutal. we are travelling through the masses of the hindu kush, through the world s second hig
there were hints that xi jinping would meet him, which, you know, he didn t have to do. blinken is not the president. so there was every sign that preparations were being made for a more contained and reasonable conversation between the us and china that we ve seen for some time. and it fits in with with the charm offensive that china has launched in the last two months to say, look, you know, lockdown s over, come back, come and invest. and all these things have now been quite badly damaged by this episode. so it s a bit mystifying. you know, either the military, the pla, presumably whose balloon they say is, were not paying attention to the diplomatic moment or this is a rather stupid provocation. here in the uk a missing person case has been perplexing investigators. but lancashire police investigating the disappearance of mother of two nicola bulley now believe she fell
as expected, announces the release, it will have cost a lot, politically, and in terms of perceptions of the germans, without really with the same result, so it is a bit mystifying. is this a significant moment, do you think? i think it is significant. on the one hand, look, tanks are important, they re not everything, but main battle tanks are really important. the ukrainians are running out of the previously soviet made ones. the leopard 2 tank is one of the most capable tanks in the world. people often talk about the american abrams, but the leopard is nothing to be sneezed at, farfrom it. and its infrastructure structure is much more readily available in central and eastern europe, and of course the russians have tanks as well. so i think the significance is linked to the perception that both the russians and the ukrainians appear to be planning offensives either later in the winter or in the spring. i would caution, on the other hand, there tends to be a little bit sometimes i