cities are in lockdown more than 40000000 people have been quarantined and airports around the world are on alert i'm phil gayle in berlin and this is the day. that emergency in china and this is a serious situation we don't know the source of this virus we don't understand how easily it spreads many people are very sick in hospital right now that more may die in the coming days and we have decided there very soon to step up our overall falls church and we are enhancing our border checks trying to contain a city of 11000000 people is the aim of this all these measures is to prevent any threat to the community we have. to think back to what is something you whatever is new in this world we need to look at it to

contain it as soon as possible. also coming up nationwide strikes against pension reforms in france and to best 7th week strikers say they're fighting for their futures but business analysts say the paralysis is affecting their bottom line. we've lost income and will recover it by investing less in hiring fewer people the strikers shouldn't forget that their action has serious consequences for the economy it's really exasperating that they don't seem to get that. they've gone to. china taking unprecedented measures to contain the spread of a deadly new coronavirus imposing quarantines on more than $40000000.00 people closing major tourist attractions and canceling public events the drastic response comes as hundreds of millions of people are on the move for the start of the lunar new year holiday this by their efforts on. sources say the virus has not been

stopped or 800 cases have been confirmed some of them beyond china's borders as far away as from the united states. the coronavirus is on the move. despite an unprecedented lockdown and will hunt and surround china hasn't managed to keep the virus contained. the autonomy's chinese region of macau confirmed at 2nd case on friday and is investigating whether they could be more. it's the same story and hong kong these images are hospital patients suffering from pneumonia being taken to an infectious disease center. even at a press briefing protective masks everywhere are isolation round the occupancy is. more than 70 percent so it's a very high occupancy and they are trying to mobilize more to go over this from

a few days. more cases have also been confirmed in singapore thailand south korea and japan. the hospital in tokyo carried out a drill to train staff in dealing with an infectious disease. in vietnam a chinese father and son tested positive for the disease making them the 1st confirmed cases in the country. every day it seems the deadly virus is traveling further. doctors in scotland said they were testing a number of suspected cases and a man was briefly hospitalized in london. 2 people literally lighthouses cave it according to what. syria or tears seriously. from the u.k. to india to australia countries around the globe are on it and monitoring closely where the virus will pop up. next. well of course is in china where the

outbreak began have imposed strict measures to contain it but have they got it under control here's more from a correspondent 5 been in beijing the health crisis concerning the corona virus has become more severe the numbers of infections have gone up and also the number of deaths has also gone up we know that in where the virus originated from the situation is dire the hospitals are overcrowded they even had to reject some patients and couldn't treat them anymore also some supermarkets are empty we know that the food inflation is quite high there nowadays the authorities are building a big hospital to treat all the coronavirus cases and that hospital has 1000 beds and it should be in operation as early as next week. however if you read the official party newspaper the people's daily they didn't even mention the coronavirus on their front page and also the evening news is more concerned about

the new year's festivities rather than the virus but this chinese new year will not be a normal one here in beijing the situation is calm but all the public events for tomorrow have been canceled and also all the truest attractions are closed because there will be dangers of people gather in the virus could spread more easily. by german chancellor angela merkel has held talks with turkish president vetted time in istanbul relations between the 2 countries have been strained over recent years but turkey is key to the success of burns' plan to return libya to stability the issue of migration is also high on the agenda turkey is currently sheltering more than 3000000 syrian refugees and is looking for more help from germany and its european partners as continued violence in syria pushes hundreds of thousands more people towards the turkish border. the german chancellor and turkish president met

at this ottoman palace in istanbul to rebuild trust and resolve some key issues such as the refugee deal between turkey and the e.u. turkey says it has yet to receive most of the 6000000000 euros it was promised for building new refugee camps the e.u. denies this and korea says it needs further funding because of the worsening situation in syria. around 400000 migrants are making their way to was from the city of it live we have to work out how we can provide these people with humanitarian aid especially. ankara wants to build solid houses in turkish controlled parts of syria experts warn international law could hinder germany from providing further financial support that chancellor merkel suggested it could be in the offing. i will consider how we can help turkey when it comes to people in syria who are living in tents because they have fled the

conflict and determine whether we can supply more funding to improve the humanitarian situation. on the migration is she represents a key political challenge for both leaders both within their own countries as well as abroad. let's take a closer look at this with a who's a turkey analyst at the german institute for international security for has it been a welcome to d w. let's start with the layout flow from today's meeting so president early one says he wants to build hundreds of thousands he wants to place hundreds of thousands of syrian refugees in these newly built houses. chancellor merkel has promised to help for what she called this humanitarian action why what's in it for germany. well. so turkey the turkish syrian border has been close so turkey started building

a wall at the syrian border in 2015 and the bore of a sport the wall was complete i think in 2017 so basically turkey already is use that over the last almost 3 and a half 1000000 syrian refugees in addition 260-0001 syrian refugees so it has reached its official capacity to hosts 50 g.'s so. i think it no longer wants. any morsy refugees and of course europe is also europe's interest also a line that turkey has interests in not having or if you're just swartz europe so that's kind of why their interests line in keeping refugees not crossing the border from syria to turkey so that's 5 germany's willing to provide more humanitarian assistance to turkey to keep effigies from it live in syria so that additional humanitarian assistance builds on the deal that was done between turkey and the

e.u. in 2016 that attracts something like 6000000 euros in grants pretty much since it was signed president has been complaining that the money is not coming through and it's not enough in the u.k. the e.u. turns around and says well it is coming through who should we believe. it's a good question i think that the say greenland is more about the timing and faces off basically how the money is paid and of and it is paid so e.u. has already contracted it all off the 2 trenches 6000000000 euros. 4.7000000000 of them 6000000000 euros are committed 4700000000 euros are already contracted and 3200000000 euros are already dispersed but the way the e.u. functions in terms of transferring the funds so there are different stages in the payments so there's a peer financing period and there is basically payments and the project is

completed and the payment is done on a project basis so that's and that's kind of causes of disagreement so it doesn't the money is not basic given to the turkish government in a lump sum and it funds rivers. so when president as he has many times threatens to open the floodgates for migrants into europe but unless he gets more money to help turkey this is just this just sounds like extortion. yeah i mean i think. so if you look at very carefully to the interview that the torch foreign minister gave to built yesterday and maybe this is a newspaper a german newspaper yes so there he starts of it's complaining that you hasn't fulfilled its promises mainly the incomplete financial aid modernizing customs union and not opening new exhibition chapters and then you basically quantum news and ses well you could have opened the borders and let there if you just flocked to europe but we didn't do that and actually our interests lie in continuing the

agreement so i think this fight all the threats that gives to the e.u. to open the borders i don't think that i'm quite as interest is in opening the borders but more so in continuing the extreme and so do is interests so i think their interests are usually we could they could shout as much as they like but it's in no one's interest for this deal to fall through let's just look briefly at the relationship between germany and to see because it has been fraught over recent years i wonder how much last sunday's apparently successful international conference on libya the germany hosted how has that affected president view of chancellor merkel. i'm not sure about how it's affected fears of them are drawn severe of magyar but it definitely allowed to turkey to buy time and it comes to its involvement in libya because turkey if you think of it is more or less

along in its end there were is in libya even though it's obviously partners with russia about their bases that they support different parties in libya so and also action to eastern mediterranean turkey is more or less alone so you know they the burden summit summits a lot of turkey to buy time to innovate keep the government of national accord intact so in that sense i would imagine that. is quite happy about. at the bar in summit and just a final word then on turkey's long game we see turkey playing an increased military role in northern syria we see it in libya as well we see it buying russian military systems rather nato military systems is this part of a coherent turkish strategy. if so what it is. i wouldn't call it i will rephrase the question and i would rather think of it more

in terms of turkey's changing foreign policy in parallel to turkey changing power configurations within the turkish states so it's kind of like a to flexion off. different kind of configuration of different actors then the state especially within the military following the coup attempts in 2016 so that's means the following since the coup attempt in 2016 turkish nation security has adopted the more if you will address it and want more kind of like pushing and approach so that's i think both the military incursions in order and syria and now the engagement in libya as well as in center that there are any and that the guests are dealing in cyprus all i think reflections off this changing national security approach off off off off off the ruling elites they're interested foster thank you for joining us. from the german institute for international and

security thank you. the french government has taken the 1st step towards passing its controversial pensions reform plan president emanuel macro wants to unify more than 40 different state pension schemes into warm in the biggest reform of the pension system since the 2nd world war but the plans have sparked a battle with the unions who brought thousands of protesters onto the streets on friday in the 7th week of nationwide union action leaders say they will continue with protests of the true action for months the opposition has already called president macro to drop plans to raise the pension age to over 64 striking workers say they're ensuring their futures but many businesses in paris have been hit hard by the strikes and say that road futures are looking pretty bleak lisa lewis reports from the capital. the neighborhood around the gondolas train station in

paris he's usually full of bustling restaurants but the strikes have turned the popular location into a burden for business. now makes 80 percent less turnover than a year ago. with all this chaos people can't take time to go out and eat they have to get to work and back home again some customers come from the outskirts by train but there are hardly any trains these days so the strike has hit us hard. he's taken some steps to limit the damage but he's calling for government help to compensate for his many losses. we have short term contracts which we haven't renewed but the problem is the high charges where the government should wave them will have trouble the strikes have impacted french hotels too especially during the holiday season with tourists staying away this owner of 4 paris hotels has seen his earnings fall by

a 3rd compared with last year. we've lost income and will recover it by investing less in hiring fewer people the strikers shouldn't forget that their action has serious consequences for the economy it's really exasperating that they don't seem to get that. the strikes are expected to dampen france's economic growth by 0 point one percent the french railway s.n.c.f. and the paris metro have lost more than $800000000.00 euros businesses in and around the french capital have suffered huge losses says this economist. with the clothing sector has been hit by the strike we forecast a drop of 30 percent for retailers many sectors may not be able to make up the losses especially in the case of one off purchases like christmas presents or in leisure activities like cinemas in theaters. not only have the lengthy work

stoppages been a problem there are also the frequent protests that forced many shops to close down the unions say it's worth it. for the 1st to suffer they have to do without their wages besides when there's a strike people realize and that's good that the employees are the ones who produce this strike is so important the proposed reform would completely rupture the social contract. that this is. restaurant owner must said been easy doesn't agree with that position he worries about france's image. and the tourists say they may not want to come anymore because there's always some problems with the body but as the number of strikers wings maybe even must be uneasy as restaurant will be full again for lunch. it's about this father with pascal a keyboard from who's brought in a correspondent for a rather false international a welcome to d

w how radical of the reforms the president to macross looking for this reform is quite radical it's probably the main important reform of my coerr it was an important play he made during a campaign 2017 it's probably maybe the most important social reform in france in 1045 since the end of the 2nd world war because it seems it means to break with the very complicated system with 42 pension friends to build a unique one a universal reform pension fund where in which everybody wheel in the future on a point they. will. pay and so if we see the headlines recede the pictures we see all these people taking to the streets in cities across paris do we presume that then there is popular disagreement with these reforms overall we

just see the people who are most vocal. and it's interesting because the polls show that all show dad and that jury duty of the french people of french people is in favor or are in favor of these reforms but they don't trust this government because the unpopularity of michael is so important they they have the impression. some measures are not clear there are afraid of losing. being. in the future with this reform and all the. all the frustrations which have been accumulated in the last years maybe decades our play also a role in these demonstrations now because this is what so many of us from our side can understand you elect a president from no where on the basis that i am going to change things and then he starts to change things and then the french people say what is your self. yeah

that's true because and that's what i said a lot of people are in favor of this reform because they think it's too complicated blah blah blah and some some workers especially working for public enterprise do have advantages of privilege depend how you how you look at that and that on the other hand if it comes to the reform everybody is concerned and is afraid oh maybe i could be concerning a negative way and. you you also should you also shouldn't forget that the electoral basis of my call 2017 was not that important of course ease victory against the ban was was huge with 66 percent of the voters but because of these special of these circumstances and electing ok so how do you we saw today that

a law has been passed in france to introduce these these changes so it doesn't look like the strikes are going to stop it. i think the strikes won't stop there is there will be some some other actions next week and now the after woods the low we'll have to be discussed in the parliament probably it would be very difficult and left his body will try all they can to not to stop the law but to. to make it more difficult for the government to pass it true but we see that the number of the people taking part to the strikes are less important than they where last month after $51.00 days it's of course it's becoming quite difficult for some people also in a matter your point of view and some reformist trade unions are willing to discuss to do with them and some orders not they want they just want these lo these these

proposals to be withdrew and the government won't accept that is easy already did some compromises maybe you will you will do some more because he needs these reform or wise my call would be to lend till the next election 2022 want to talk about about the last point. of the just over 2 years as you say to get to his reelection is anger if he gets his way and he pushes this through. is anger at those changes is likely to last for 2 years and is he likely to be punished in 2 years. that's a possibility the opposite possibility is maybe that people see that the concrete consequences of these reform are not so dramatic as some people say maybe the government will be able more than in the past to communicate better and to

underline that there are also some. positive aspect for some categories with these reform and ok and generally speaking the economy the situation in front of us in france is better than it was in the past have to wait and see. both from a rather false international thank you. now the united nations has called for international help to battle a massive outbreak of locusts in east africa somalia ethiopia and kenya are the worst affected and uganda is preparing for an invasion researchers say the insects produce an unprecedented threat to food security in some of the world's most vulnerable regions. they eat and destroy everything on their way. once warm message 60 kilometers long and 40 kilometers wide hundreds of thousands

of acres of crops destroyed. people fight back with whatever means they have. more than 200 head is here and we all depend on this land for grazing. now it will be disastrous if we all perish without getting any help. came from yemen then down from the sea to the horn of africa the unusual warm temperatures off the coast are partly to blame the recent heavy rainfall has created the perfect breeding conditions the greenery that has sprung up is now fueling them it has almost become a desperate battle. and it is the not. going that this one can be used for on so long. is it not that

they're destroying. agriculture is big business in the region here the kenyan national government is now increasing the efforts and spraying from the yeah this swamps the spreading fast up to 150 kilometers a day the un's food and agriculture organization is raising the alarm now calling for. international assistance it's the worst that we've seen in ethiopia and somalia in 25 years and the worst that we've seen in kenya and so over 70 years the fear is that the locust numbers could increase 500 times in the next few months. well that is nearly done but the conversation continues online you'll find us on twitter i have to dump you do so at phil go have a good day. after

. the point strong opinions clear positions of international perspectives. can germany succeed where others have failed in brokering a political solution to the long running conflict in libya chancellor merkel says last sunday's conference here in berlin was a 1st step to speech have a chance find out on to the point. to the point. next to the doubling of greek.

loco to the euro max you tube channel. host good might have stood. with exclusive. must see concerning culture. to be for curious minds. do it yourself networkers doesn't. subscribe don't miss out. you know that 77 percent. are younger than 60 ha. that's me and me. and you know what time all voices i want to talk to 77 of the subtle.

stuff. from politics to flash from housing boom boom times this is where you are. welcome to the 77 percent. this weekend on the d.w.i. . the flame. can germany succeed where others have failed and broker a political solution to the long running conflict in libya the chancellor merkel says last sunday's conference here in berlin was a 1st step the chancellor did in fact succeed in getting the main players in this proxy war just sit down at one table including the russian and turkish presidents until now on opposing sides.