last. this is due to abuse live from burlesque a political earthquake here in germany there's outrage and shock as for the 1st time a mainstream party joins up with the far right to gain control of a state government a taboo is broken and the chancellor angela merkel says the deal has to be undone. also coming up this is usually a bustling commercial street not so souvenir shops mark shields tourists who visit beijing usually come to spend time here and i'm the only one. the ghost town that

is beijing normally busy streets and metro trains are deserted as the city fights the coronavirus. a passenger plane breaks apart while trying to land in istanbul 3 people are dead and scores are injured the plane was lashed by strong winds and heavy rain. and senior german politicians appealed for wiki leaks founder julian assange to be released from jail in britain and he is due in court in connection with an extradition request by the united states we talked to the u.n. repertoire on torture and abuse investigators just on his case. i'm sumi so misconducts good to have you with us here in germany a regional election has set off what's being called a political earthquake for the 1st time to mainstream parties have worked with the far right alternative for germany or a. thomas kemalist

a politician from their pro-business free democrats was elected premier of the small state of turin jail with help from the a.f. d. and the conservative c.d.u. to see us chancellor merkel's party now until today other parties had refused to cooperate with the far right in any form the head of germany's free democrats is travelling to tour india and there is speculation that he wants to persuade the newly elected straight state a premier to step down and call new elections. while those political fireworks are going off back home and chancellor merkel is thousands of kilometers away on an official visit to south africa america has been meeting president cyril ramaphosa in a bid to boost business ties between the 2 nations south africa is germany's largest economic partner in africa and the chile there is have just been speaking to the media and the situation in the ranger was the very 1st topic that merkel addressed the election of these insufficent was a unique event which actually broke with

a basic tradition for both the city you and myself namely that. we will not accept majorities that are one with the help of the f.t. and it was actually very clear already from the start this it took 3 rounds of elections this is an unpardonable act and so. the result needs to be protected that needs to be abolished and at least to the extent that the c.d.u. will not is not allowed to participate in a government beneath the. with the now elected minister present it was a bad day for democracy a day that broke with a long intro tradition of the values of the city you and everything needs to be done now in order to make it clear that this is in no way in line with what the

c.d.u. thinks how we have acted for the existence of the party and this is what we need to work on and over the next few days. our chief political editor michelle has been following all the latest developments on this story for c joins us for more hi michelle and you've been listening in to this press conference so with the german chancellor what else did she say about this huge political controversy that's been taking place in germany. well it was rather remarkable it was like the old days when she was indeed still the leader of the c.d.u. party her conservative party here and she no longer is a great come come and go it has taken over that role and yet she's then south africa seeing herself in a sense forced to comment on what she described as a bad day for democracy a breach with the values of the c.d.u. and something that needs to be reversed what happened well essentially in the ring which is a stronghold of the far right party the tail is wagging the dog politically after

the leader of a party that barely scraped the 5 percent hurdle into that regional parliament managed to become a new state premier against all odds knowingly with the help of the fall great if tea party the conservative c.d.u. and this former f.t.p. interior minister put it himself. foam has an air of volume of that's what everybody's getting so worked up about here in germany to many it feels like those dark days when the fascists and the leader of the far a 50 in theory can be called a fascist were helped by the conservative the mainstream conservatives in german society helping essentially out of it to get to power that's the magnitude of it how it's felt here in germany right now and that's why the chancellor herself

feels she needs to say that this needs to be reversed more than just a call on her regional party to fix this michelle or we heard her say that she the situation is unforgivable that it needs to be undone essentially this controversy did break yesterday why did it take so long to hear from the chancellor. well she was safe already on a plane to south africa she actually did have a call with her party leader and could come combo and also the leaders of a coalition part of the social democrats who are having a bit of a field day on this they are known as the in stable partner in this so-called grand coalition i would expect that intense consultation it will take place and pressure will be put on there can't be much more pressure than this on the conservative c.d.u. but also on the free democrats to make this just a flash in the pound and something that is reversed rather than something that

becomes part of german political history the jury's still out on that we have heard thomas kenniff say he is looking to actually form a government so what does happen next what do german parties do to undo this as chancellor merkel has called for. well the parties here in berlin can't really do that terribly much except try and put pressure on the regional party leadership because germany is a federal state ironically the setup is that to prevent exactly something like this happening the other way around if you had an extremist party again in power at the central level they would not be able to exercise pressure to tell regional parties what to do now this is a reverse situation and i would expect. to consider very carefully who is next step because at the end of the day he doesn't have a majority that he can really form a government with in the state of the renia and the far right if he is celebrating

this as a victory at least a moral victory over the conservative block particularly under the mackerels c.d.u. alexander going on the chief whip in parliament a leading figure and a former c.d.u. politician has declared the aim of the far right to force the c.d.u. to cooperate with them to have no other option well this is pretty much what happened through the back door in the rain here and unless the c.d.u. and the free democrats can demonstrate that this was a political accident they will have a lot to explain to the mainstream conservative electorate here and me it is a hugely significant political development as you're saying michelle it out there been protests on the street here in berlin and it doesn't bode well for chancellor merkel's conservatives i mean what does this mean for the governing coalition. well let me just take it one step back i mean what the conservative c.d.u. now actually has an open rift you have

a party leader able to control her own m.p.'s or to persuade them not to go into what is voiding seen as a political trap by the far right party so what has been kind of internal debate underneath the carpet is now out in the open that's damaging combo is conservative leader it's once again destabilizes the so-called ground coalition i'm going to mackerels government i have huge doubts that this would really have the political energy to bring that coalition down but we have indeed some very interesting days ahead of us our chief political editor michelle are consumed with the very latest thank you so much. all right let's check in now on some of the other stories making news around the world the u.s. senate has acquitted president donald trump of both charges of impeachment the senate dominated by the president's fellow republicans voted to clear him on

charges of abuse of power and obstruction of congress the result and a bid by the democrats to oust trump from office. italian authorities say 2 people were killed when a high speed train derailed several others suffered serious injuries an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the development which happened about 50 kilometers south of milan. and israeli police say they are investigating a car ramming in jerusalem as a terrorist attack 14 pedestrians mostly soldiers were injured when the car sped into them police say the driver fled the scene in the vehicle the incident came as 2 palestinians were killed in clashes with israeli forces. the world health organization is calling for almost 700000000 dollars to help fight the coronavirus it says that money is needed to help countries that don't have systems in place to combat the virus meanwhile the death toll is approaching 600 and more than 28000 people have been infected china's capital beijing is not at the center of the

outbreak but correspondent spilling of found its streets and squares deserted as the government attempts to bring the disease under control. a rare sight in the dry winters of beijing the gate to the forbidden city covered in snow a few people have come out to take in the spectacle but getting inside is out of the question just like almost all public facilities beijing's most famous historic site remains closed i think it's good that the government took these measures we support them we'd appreciate even strength to measure is your. business activity has largely come to a halt across much of the capital this is usually a bustling commercial street lots of souvenir shops knock shops tourists who visit beijing usually come to spend time here today i'm the only one. every day human

interaction has become suspicious this shop asked its customers to stay outside and communicate their needs from the outside. some pharmacies take the same approach everyone is wary. because the younger it's a national emergency we stand together who were not standing together should not be taken literally residential complexes keep strangers out in this compound visitors have to register with their id the guards look for the place of birth who are overweight people can't get any even if they live here they'll be quarantined. people from who province where the virus originated are to be isolated in this hotel discrimination against them is now rampant. at the entrance to the subway system a mandatory temperature check. at the same site as everywhere in the city lots of space the trains are running as usual it's the passengers who are in.

this circle line some of beijing's most patient shopping area as the railway station is. hard road to. beijing has reported less than $300.00 cases so far but fear here has spread much faster than the virus ever could. senior german politicians are launching an appeal to have wiki leaks founder julian assange released from jail in britain former foreign minister sigma gabriele is among more than $130.00 public figures who say they want the u.k. to follow the advice of the un special rapporteur on torture to release a songe on medical grounds the founder of wiki leaks which publishes news leaks and classified material is in a high security british prison awaiting extradition to the u.s.

on spying charges he'd previously evaded capture by taking diplomatic refuge. the 1st few months that julian assange spent in the ecuadorian embassy in london it was all defiant and optimistic gestures 7 years later he would emerge as a broken man. when british police tracked the wiki leaks founder out of the diplomatic mission in 2019 he looked confused and was almost unrecognizable. by u.n. experts on torture said a son showed symptoms of psychological torture some fear this torture may still be happening today. so how did we get here and why. julian assange took refuge in the ecuadorian embassy and 2012 after sweden asked the u.k. to extradite the wiki leaks founder to answer allegations of rape and that country . sanchez always denied those allegations saying there were pretense to have them

eventually extradited to the united states where he is wanted on espionage charges . as we can you expand under threat so does the freedom of expression and the health of all our society. his supporters share this view they say the swedish rape allegations were fabricated and an excuse to punish a son for the leaking of hundreds of thousands of confidential government documents and for exposing possible war crimes. one high profile leak was a video obtained from the u.s. military which wiki leaks says says he was soldiers opening fire on people in baghdad and killing several civilians and 2 journalists. as some just now in a maximum security prison in the u.k. and continues to fight against his extradition to the united states if he loses his

fight and disk convicted in the u.s. the wiki leaks founder faces up to 175 years in jail the rape case and sweden has since been dropped. and we're joined now by neil's meltzer is a united nations special rapper toure on torture who investigated this case mr meltzer thank you so much for joining us here on t w i want to start by asking you about the rape allegations against julian assange because you've been very critical of this case we just heard there that the allegations that the charges have been dropped are these assault allegations false were they fabricated. well i have to admit to you when i 1st got into this case i was a very looked into look into this because i can resume pressure like everybody else in the public julius under some guilty turkeys and nurses pack her rapist and so i

was very reluctant to get into the schools and then just as lawyers convinced me to look just a few key pieces of evidence and the district as soon as you scratch the surface of his public narrative slightly it becomes very contradictory and you could see there was internal correspondence between police officers in the dictionary the statements of the alleged victims if you can see the list and the woman who was supposedly raped sends a text message to the friends out of the police interrogation saying i don't want to accuse a such of anything and just wanting to do with each i detest what the police wants to get their hands on here so we have all these pieces of evidence that that's sold at the adult match with the public narrative of the swedes and also the way the proceedings have been conducted. are riddled with grave due process while issues we should all match in interest of getting justice here he said how that you know that

during a found as lawyers approached you asking for you to look at this case you had the un special rapporteur on torture was julian assange is torture. well that was the other reason i was reluctant to get into this because i didn't 1st see the link to my mandate but then it immediately became clear to me that there's actually 3 aspects that are important your 1st mistress sounds disclosed and revealing information evidence for systematic torture by the u.s. and its allies and none of these crimes has been prosecuted so clearly that's a violation of the convention against torture and thus already given might not it and secondly i visited him to go to medical experts who specialize in examining torture victims and both of them came to conclusion that he showed takeable signs for psychological torture so again this falls within my monday at the u.k. government as lights to investigate those to provide address will be done now

thoroughly his fratton and extradition to the united states and we all know security defendants in the united states if convicted it's are likely to be held in supermax conditions under the so-called senate special measures which worldwide are considered to be in violation of the provision of treatment you've been very critical of a lot of the players in this case have the democratic governments of sweden u.k. the us also ecuador who are all involved here how they intentionally manipulated justice. this is my conclusion yes i was a bit reluctant to come out into public this statement because i thought no one will believe me but i have the pieces of evidence and put the questions to movies for states and i asked them to explain how their conduct is compiled with human rights law and none of them were able or even willing to respond to me and to engage in an aisle which certainly is not of the sun what would why would that

serve sweetness interests why would it serve sweden's interests to thwart justice here. i think we have to take a step backwards here and just see what we can eat because we 1st created a system where whistleblowers around the world can anonymously submit secret information about misconduct of states and how to publish through which leaks now the trenching what's the standard practice of governments to conduct their business in in a large scale secrecy we've got a group a tendency of governments to classified information think of the senate committee report of the us and cia torture and be completely classified basically apart from it is separate it is again the half of it was black and and as we did it was an ally of the us government and the u.k. obviously as well so the states all have an interest in not having their dirty

laundry puck and they're now found saying that julian assange would not receive a fair trial in the u.s. one of those powerful democracies in the world why is that. yes not all of the states you know for normal everyday cases obviously there is rule of law and there's no reason to doubt that but i have seen the evidence that as soon as we have national security interests involved the rule of law really goes out the window then the national security cases all of them into us have been tried in the same court in alexandria before drew is you know our managed to make a plea in police off and as. you know less is based on secret that it is the exclusion of the public. and no one has ever been. there so there is no doubt in my mind that also that the public prejudice against us and she's looking to get a fair trial and mr nasr you've also won for best sets a dangerous precedent for both press freedom and democracy why what do you actually

foresee happening. well you see what we're seeing here does not reveal only about mr assad this is what is being done to something to make an example of him to intimidate other investigative journalists who might be tempted to publish secret information about misconduct of states because what us to say here is that if foreign to us journalists who is not in the us and has no sense of allegiance to the u.s. if they accomplish as any ethnicity journalist should do information evidence from the government. and that will be punished 175 years in prison for comparison to worst for criminals and they receive fixed term sentences of 45 years so that's a very grave and he's lucky to do away with with freedom of press right a stark warning there from neals mel so united nations special reparatory on

torture thank you so much for joining us on day to. thank you very much. art you're watching news still to come on our show the man who was spartacus we look back on the life and movies have hollywood legend kirk douglas who has died at the age of 103. first so let's check in on some more stories from around the world 3 people were killed and dozens injured when a plane skidded off the runway at a stumble 2nd biggest airport the boeing 737 caught fire and split into 3 pieces after landing in bad weather the flight was operated by turkish low cost carrier pegasus. and at least 6 people are reported to have been killed after supporters of the populous cleric of a populous cleric rather stormed an anti-government protest camp in iraq's southern city of najaf medical sources say at least 20 more wounded a cleric a sadder as waved wavered between support for and opposition to iraqi protesters

demanding the removal of the ruling elite. the legendary oscar winning actor kirk douglas has died at the age of 103 he made his name in hollywood's golden age of movie making and was one of the biggest box office stars of the 1950 s. and sixty's his son the actor michael douglas announced the news of his father's passing saying to the world he was a legend but to me and my brothers he was simply down. to bundesliga news now dortmund captain mark of royce will be sidelined for at least 4 weeks after suffering a muscle injury in german cup defeat against federer braman earlier this week weiss has a history of injury issues that dortmund and this season has been no different the 30 year old attacking midfielder looks set to miss 5 games with dortmund which could hinder their title ambitions in the bundesliga and in the champions league a season court currently dortmund are 3rd in the domestic standings.

now their city waited for it for half a century super bowl champions kansas city chiefs have celebrated their big win with an even bigger party crowds of loyal fans turned out to congratulate the players as they paraded through the streets they have ended up at a massive rally where everybody was led and danced by the team's mascot k.c. wolf the chiefs won their 1st super bowl title in 50 years on sunday by defeating the san francisco 49 er's 7. this is news and these are our top stories a regional election has set off a political earthquake in germany 2 parties the pro-business f.d.p. and conservative c.d.u. have joined forces with the far right and to elect a state premier the cooperation breaks a political taboo in germany about working with the far right. china says the number of confirmed corona virus infections has now topped $28000.00 more than $560.00 have died the world health organization has appealed for almost

$700000000.00 to help less developed economies deal. with the global health emergency there are. 3 people were killed and dozens injured when a plane skidded off the runway at istanbul 2nd biggest airport the boeing 737 caught fire and split into 3 pieces after a landing in bad weather. the u.s. senate has acquitted president donald trump of impeachment the senate dominated by the president's fellow republicans voted to clear him on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of congress this is news from berlin for more follow us on twitter at the w. news or visit our website w dot com. and don't forget you can always get to give you news on the go download or apps from google play or from the app store that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news and if you're part of a news story you can always use the d.o.b.

you have to send us your photos and videos of what is happening where you are. coming up next did have your business with gary hart our 1st attempts.

to brothers in slovakia contact between corruption. changed. me and coach not a businessman accused of hiring a hit man. either unconscious cafe owner fighting for democracy. 2 brothers who couldn't be more different and they're torn country some kids under

. 16 against. that change the world. the cry for freedom and the fight for freedom were always accompanied by music listening. cheney tracing. and to bring us all together. to form documentaries about the revolutionary music. or. just how songs come pieces of a strange party john. and

the solution songs like that don't go away and they stay with us for all time. for south africa. starts feb 7th w. . the coronavirus global tesla added us and many other companies are feeling the impact of the virus and not just in china contagious diseases affecting business in many other parts. as german chancellor go visit south africa account of german companies help drac the country's slowing economy although the gold. and electric autonomy called a small village near the german coast goes fully electric.