this is g.w. newsline from berlin the caucus chaos in iowa 24 hours after voting for the democratic presidential candidates and the world is still waiting for the results of the democratic party and i was blaming it on a new ad out a technical malfunction that has turned the start of the election season into a nonstarter but that is not stopping some candidates from declaring themselves winners also coming up on strike to protect themselves from the virus thousands of health care workers in hong kong walked off the job demanding that the territory's

government completely seal its borders with china as the coronavirus claims more lives and swarms of locusts filling the skies in kenya and beyond as the bugs devour crops and destroy farmland officials say they're posing an unprecedented threat to east africa's fragile food supply. i'm burnt off it's good to have you with us democrats in the u.s. state of iowa say that they are poised to finally release half of the results from the voter caucuses that is expected to happen within the next hour the closely watched caucus as been plagued by technical glitches in what has become a huge embarrassment for the democratic party the caucuses are the own. putting

a vent in the 2020 presidential campaign calendar it's estimated that hundreds of thousands of party supporters turned out to back their preferred candidate in the race to take on trump in november but a software melt down in a result reporting. it delayed the announcement of the outcome in caused this crisis is still unclear when the full results will be. joining me tonight here at the big table is diego reversi is chair of democrats abroad berlin diego it's good to have you on the show unfortunate that we have to see each other under these circumstances have you heard anything from the democratic national committee are they giving an official word about what happened yes well thanks for having us and i definitely it's not the start that we wanted to have this is brilliant difficult time for us but we really have to see the whole context where these this up and also procedures this year and 2020 were put in

there to make a more democratic than sure that all the votes were counted and we're going through a democratic procedure which may take a little bit longer but we do want to make sure we get everything right and what you think what do you think when you saw what was happening last night i mean the onus was very frustrating i'm at the same time it was really and lightning to know that we're putting and these kind of procedures and methods to ensure that every vote is counted and accurate and it's actually a good thing that when something i was thinking you know is made that we don't come back and actually then really try to correct it instead of going forward what do you say that people who say you know both parties the republicans in the democrats you've had for years it's 2016 to prepare for this you know that there were problems in the 2016 election how could you not get something as important as a caucus vote how could they not get it right yes so i mean i think we did get it right to the extent that we will have a final answer it's taking longer than we wanted to have and you know it was really a democratic system where you had 1600 volunteers. leading the caucus this is

really democracy from the heartland from iowa you know there have been people who have you have used what's happened in the last hours as part of their case against caucuses do you think caucuses in iowa or do you think they're dead yes i think you know what's really interesting is that not only do we have 50 states which are using either a primary or caucus system but there are 6 other kind of committees including democrats abroad who actually vote we have different methods of choosing the candidate and so for example here and democrats abroad we do have a primary system which we will be having and over almost 30 cities in germany and almost 200 around the world i think this made methods to do this i was people i will may choose a different method in the future but that's up for them to deserve for them to decide as part of the decent realized system to do you good stand by we're going to come right back to you were just a moment u.s. president trumps historic impeachment trial is expected to wrap up tomorrow wednesday and his acquittal is all but assured by the republican controlled senate

he's charged with withholding military aid to ukraine in exchange for political dirt on his rival joe by the ukraine affair is just one of trump's many controversial foreign policy decisions take a look. he cozies up to terry and strong man heber rates and ridicules close u.s. allies and he views himself as the next steps in on deal maker donald trump came into office believing that the foreign policy of his predecessors was badly wrong and that he alone could fix it there were indeed some serious problems with you after foreign policy when trying to cut off this sense christopher preble an expert with the libertarian cato institute knows that on balance the president successes are few and far between. i think that the president set for himself some very ambitious objectives he allowed his rhetoric to get. his ability to

execute and we're seeing it play out over the last 3 years and so when he boasts that he's achieved some great success it's fairly easy to see that that is not the case for example north korea and the famous bilateral meetings between donald trump and kim jong il the white house claims this was a great breakthrough but north korea's nuclear program continues and the human rights situation in north korea is still dreadful for iran since the u.s. withdrawal from the nuclear deal there have been tit for tat escalations culminating in trump's order to kill iranian top general qassim soleimani the u.s. maximum pressure come paint on tehran doesn't seem to be working and even though trump promised to end the wars in the middle east the u.s. military presence in the persian gulf now is larger than it was when he took office but in his state of the union address the u.s.

president is expected to tell it his ability to keep america safe he will probably also praise he's a chief ments as negotiator pointing to the new trade agreement with canada and to mexico they face one u.s. china trade deal and his middle east peace plan a plan that critics deemed unrealistic and that on arrival. president some could be more successful if he worked closer together with friends and partners instead of accusing them of taking advantage of the u.s. says has are called an expert at the center for strategic and international studies in washington. this is something very very new and every past u.s. president not that we haven't had difficulties with allies but we see allies as a force multiplier of u.s. influence and economic prosperity not as a negative so this is a very new element to president trump's foreign and security policy and certainly

europe has felt that most keenly ironically it's the u.s. policy towards europe that has become crucial to his legacy because of his dealings with ukraine impeachment will always be attached to donald trump and the years from now it will be one of the 1st thing students are taught about the 45th president you know one of the many things to go tomorrow is verdict day in this impeachment trial the u.s. president is expected to be acquitted. even republican senators are saying that what he did was wrong and shameful but they say they will not convict him what do you tell people here in germany around the world about the state of american democracy at the moment you know it's obviously been a sad couple weeks if you look at the trial it's quite clear what actually is happening and i believe you know if i'm telling people what we can do but we look

forward to not you know i risk of having too much hope what's important is that there is an election coming up and we can mobilize the vote for a broad that's something that number i'm across a broad can do democrats abroad germany and berlin and we have to work towards that right now it's important to stay positive that's for sure do you go to leave us with democrats abroad berlin do you believe that your time tonight thank you alison . and here's some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world a court in iran has sentenced a man to death for spying for the cia the court says that the iranian man was paid to send information about the country's nuclear program to the u.s. spy agency in a separate case 2 charity workers received one for his sentences on similar charges . a 2nd day of unrest on the greek island of lesbos with police again breaking up a protest of hundreds of migrants they are angry over poor conditions and slow processing at the island's camps the country's migration minister concedes that the

situation on lesbos is a problem. firefighters on the french island of corsica are battling an out of control winter blaze it started on tuesday and quickly tore through hundreds of hector's in remote terrain it was sparked by a huge gust of wind and followed a weekend of unseasonably warm weather. kenya's former autocratic president daniel arap moi has died at the age of 95 ruled kenya for 24 years until 2002 becoming the country's longest standing leader he ran the country as a one party state in which corruption and human rights abuses were widespread. a 2nd death from the corona virus outside the chinese mainland has been confirmed in hong kong the 1st was in the philippines beijing says 425 people on the mainland have now died from the virus and the number of confirmed infections had surged

above 20000 in hong kong which was hit hard by the sars virus 18 years ago this new coronavirus is fuelling alarm and anger. comes health workers angry they want the border with mainland china shot to halt the spread of the corona virus that has infiltrated hong kong and now killed a man. i. think i have the government listens to and demands quickly closes the borders and brings this epidemic under control so. the consent is not only here many countries are taking drastic measures in that effort to contain the spread of the virus. japan has quarantined this cruise ship after a passenger who disembarked in hong kong tested positive for the virus there almost full 1000 people still on board a medical team has boarded the ship to conduct extensive health checks. the world

health organization has declared the virus a global emergency but not a pending. make in other words it might be spreading but don't panic currently we are not independent make. we are to face where it's an epidemic with. foresight and we will try to distinguish transmission in each of these. in tough times china is claiming a victory in the beds of the thousands of expected coronavirus patients who are already arriving at this emergency hospital in one hand where the outbreak began the facility was built in under 2 weeks breakneck speed to tackle the rapidly spreading virus the w.h.o. has praised china for its urgent action saying it's provided a window of opportunity to hold transmission around the world. from one plague to another east africa is being plagued by swarms of locusts and they are threatening

not only people's livelihoods but also the food supplies somalia ethiopia and kenya have been worst hit by the desert locust but the u.n. is mourning with a rapid response many other countries in east africa and on the arabian peninsula could be at risk as well. locusts filled the skies of northern kenya our rusty brown he is across the landscape eating up the greenery and everything people here depend on for food. and people i did expect to not i'm not only hungry people that i still can would you be talking about as. stupid it is. 12 swarms have descended on kenya so far even the smallest swarm needs just a day to destroy crops that would provide food for 2 and a half 1000 people. the insects reproduce in massive numbers afterwards they lay their eggs deep in the soil. the offspring is born 4 weeks

later they can cover up to 150 kilometers a day devastating swathes of the land as they go. they eat the leaves and anything left over is useless because if cattle graze on land where locusts have left feces they get sick. the u.n. says almost 70000000 euros are needed only a quarter of that has been collected so far a gloomy outlook for those hoping to combat this plague anytime soon you're watching d.w. news coming up in d.w. business starts the electric car maker just walk have surged to top of $949.00 is this sustainable or good is beyond the road to a crash today i'll still have that story and much more coming up next indeed of your business i'm burnt off for all of us here in berlin thanks for the company

will see you tomorrow. every journey begins with the 1st step and every language but the 1st word published in the. rico is in germany to learn german why not come with him simple online on your mobile and free shop for d w z e learning course nikos free german made easy.