did you get the fact that. this is d w news live from berlin jailed for alleged subversion china sentences a prominent human rights lawyer to prison rights activists have condemned the decision to keep junk behind bars also coming up people in the cuban capital have ana are cleaning up after the first tornado to hit the city in decades to claimed at least three lives. pope francis warns of a bloodbath in venezuela as the self declared interim president calls for more

street protests against president. i'm calling assman balcombe to the program judges in china have sentenced a prominent human rights lawyer to four and a half years in prison when john was convicted of subverting state power he served as the defense lawyer for members of the band the following gong spiritual movement as well as filters and land rights cases has been speaking with mr wang's wife leave and sue happier times the full of his family was torn apart before the chinese human rights lawyer was detained for months his wife the ones who didn't even know whether he was life. some friends came to visit lee and her son today knowing she was facing the tough blow. the court has just sentenced one

change on to four and the half years in prison. so he would. be able i was only one boy into the case being over. but now it's come to an end i feel very sad. it's an unfair and unjust ruling with all. and it's not the one i wanted. five years. lito d.w. that she only discovered the court's ruling from the internet authorities have denied any visits by the family throughout the trial her son has not seen his father since the arrest. and twenty fifteen one disappeared after what was widely seen as a government crackdown on human rights lawyers wang has now been found guilty of subversion of state power the ones who says she doesn't accept the court's ruling

on. mayor fenty one trend jiang is not to blame for anything and. i love him and they treated him harshly because he's did have and did not make any compromises have they put this in a book and post here. levy is keeping her head shaved as a protest against her husband's treatment she says she will continue to fight for one's rights until the day comes when the family was reunited. for more we're john joined by china analyst alright goldberg from the think tank the america tour institute that's here in berlin. is beijing trying to send some sort of signal with this prison sentence right i mean i think there are two different messages that are being sent and the first one is if you work on certain issues and you defend certain kinds of people will come after you but perhaps more importantly one issue that's been a case with a lot of the lawyers that has gone after is they were able to actually galvanized

forces across different social strata so another another message that's being sent here as if you're the kind of person who will inspire cross social. movements we will also not tolerate because that's one thing the party doesn't like is society organizes outside of the official framework you mentioned some of the issues that when john was working on in china civil rights religious tolerance how were those issues playing out right now in china what's the status with that well the major issues with religions at the moment has recently come out or has announced plans for another plan to synthesise previously come out with a similar plan for christianity and the stat of one of the big issues in china right now really is the status of muslims especially in the north western region of

sin john where the chinese government has set up. in term camps called so-called reeducation camps for people it comes letters to radicals so this really is a massive issue in china right now. is there any sign of resistance amongst ordinary people so to speak i mean we see what happens with with prominent activists or lawyers what about ordinary people i mean there are there's always there's never been trying to has never been an entirely harmonious society there's always been a lot of potential for conflict which is why you lawyers defending people in such rights cases are desperately needed. and i do think there is only speaking there is quite a bit of unrest right now especially as china's economy is doing badly at the moment so that really exacerbates tension this is a four and a half year prison sentence in your opinion what are the chances could he possibly be released early will he be in jail for the next four and half years i would assume that the time served i think he's already been in jail for three years or so

so that the time served would be weighed against that sentence but we'll have to wait and see if that's the case baraka oberg or china analyst thank you very much. now to some of the other stories making news around the world american and taliban officials have reportedly agreed on a framework for an afghanistan peace deal the u.s. envoy says the taliban have committed to preventing the country from being used as a base for terror groups america is considering withdrawing all of its troops in return for a cease fire and direct talks between the taliban and the afghan government. the german government has assured drivers it has no plans to introduce an overall maximum speed limit on motorways a poll had shown that just over half of germans favored such a limit after a government proposal suggesting one was leaked. in the us most of the eight hundred thousand workers who were laid off during the record federal government

shutdown are now we're turning to work and they will receive back pay on friday president trump and congress agreed to reopen the government after thirty five days but the agreement is temporary and does not include funding for the president's border wall and my colleague genelle do malone has more on the u.s. shutdown and its cost to american taxpayers in our business bulletin that's coming up right after the show. a clean up operation is underway in parts of the cuban capital have on after a tornado hit the city it killed at least three people and injured more than one hundred seventy cuba is often affected by hurricanes but tornadoes are rare. many here and have on the speeches to be brief from torn worlds rooftops in trees because through the streets of the capital cubans are used to hurricanes but are turning to the last one was in one nine hundred forty some set the storm sounded

like an explosion when it hit the city. it happened in a matter of seconds luckily it was only seconds it was a go on for minutes no one here would still be alive what we did when we felt the gusts of wind as things were being thrown about the first thing i did was crap my daughter and go into the kitchen crouched in my kitchen so that nothing would happen to my child i have never seen anything like it never. a government material or just set the deadly tornado that struck of on on sunday night of two hundred fifty to three hundred kilometers per hour but it wasn't only the magnitude of the wind but course they have a book after years with little maintenance many of the houses that collapsed have been in a poor condition. cuba's president visited the roasted neighborhoods shortly after the storm. we have to report lives lost so far three deaths and many

injured they've been taken to hospital to be treated. risky rochas is still combing through dozens of damaged buildings to find survivors while many people are still struggling to comprehend how such a brief was attention could cause such damage to their city. pope francis has spoken out about venezuela's political crisis saying he's terrified of a bloodbath the pope called for a quote just and peaceful solution and said he would not take sides he was speaking to reporters as he returned to rome from a catholic youth gathering in animal. support all venezuelan people who are suffering if i were to say duties to those countries or other countries i put myself in a role that i don't know it'd be a pastoral imprudence and would do damage to get them to agree isn't enough it requires a just and peaceful solution i'm terrified of a bloodbath. the united states has announced fresh sanctions against venezuela's

state owned oil company known as paid of ace up national security adviser john bolton made the announcement at the white house telling reporters that the move would ensure the presence of nicolas maduro could no longer quote loot the assets of the venezuelan people and join. meanwhile opposition leader who last week declared himself as interim president has called for fresh protests against the duro the opposition also wants new elections and several european countries have warned that they will switch their support to go i know if no vote is announced has also been trying to persuade army generals to switch their support to him by offering amnesty. in a carefully staged show of solidarity even as well as president nicolas maduro joined soldiers for morning drills he also took part in military maneuvers intended to display government strength and its preparedness. let me want to look at the moment i'm calling on all members of our armed forces to show maximum unity and

discipline to be ready to repel the imperialists coup attempt. regular citizens delivered military personnel an offer of amnesty from opposition leader and self to clip the president one. at numerous barricades the letter was immediately burned or torn up meanwhile guardia which ended a church service to remember the dozens of people who have lost their lives in recent days he says he's ready to negotiate but only if certain conditions are met . and so this illegitimate government a transitional government and the promise of reelections that's simply what the people of venezuela demanding. called for fresh protests both at home and abroad to take place later this week. with this we want to support the european union's initiative and their ultimatum. but that's an ultimatum that president to modesto has already categorically

rejected. germany's president frank. on a visit to ethiopia the trip is largely aimed at boosting business ties but it's also highlighting ethiopia's program of democratic reforms after years of authoritarian rule prime minister ahmed has implemented a raft of changes such as improving gender equality. this is the man bringing change to ethiopia. and showing berlin support for this change is why german president funk is here. as. well you see was this coming to power last year prime minister abi ahmed cemented a peace deal with former rival every trail. she released thousands of political prisoners and also appointed a cabinet in which half the members are women next to the first female president of ethiopia sally works saudi acknowledged what he called revolutionary changes in favor of democracy. i've come to

a country that has changed a country that is rising and we new ng itself and i believe i can speak for everyone visiting here with me that we have tremendous respect for what still has to be done with my of a courage it took you to begin peace reforms. the two countries are seeking to strengthen their economic ties to help boost development in ethiopia. so they work so he prays started my us presence and said that one shouldn't wait until everything was rosy to engage in a more solid partnership. if your pia is still troubled with ethnic conflict and other issues like poverty and high unemployment challenges the country must deal with this it starts to enjoy new freedoms and liberties. as you just heard in that report afa of ethiopia's cabinet are women but the country still is near the bottom

of the un's ranking on gender equality in sub-saharan africa so we're asking what the government's reforms mean for women in the country will have or that coming up in around fifteen minutes in our show d w news africa. and finally a sad day for the tiny pacific island nation of new way as its most famous winged resident is no more known as the loneliest duck in the world and the island's only one trevor was apparently killed by dogs it's thought he had been blown across the pacific ocean during a storm and ended up nearly three thousand kilometers away from his home in new zealand the duck became famous when a journalist visited the island and found that locals gave directions to each other based on the location of traverse favorite puddle. you're watching t.v. news live from berlin don't forget you can get all the latest news and information

around the clock on our website that's d.w. dot com and stay tuned our business bolton is up next with more on the financial cost of that u.s. government shutdown i sponsored. craig yourself with interior design channel on the two. closely. carefully. the soon. to be a good.