thank you. this is deja vu newsflash from berlin a bad day for democracy in germany says chance on america a mainstream party teams up with the far right to gain control of a state government there is outrage and shock as a taboo is broken michael says the deal must be reversed also coming up this is usually a bustling commercial street not so souvenir shops mark shops tourists who visit to beijing usually tom just prime target here today are the only one. the ghost town

that is beijing normally busy streets and metro trains are deserted as the city fights the coronavirus. and with wiki leaks founder julian assange stew to appear at court and connection with an extradition request by the u.s. the u.n. reportory on torture accuses western democracies of manipulating the evidence. 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 2 mainstream parties have worked with the far right alternative for germany or a.f.d. to elect a state premier until now other parties have shunned the far right and the development in the eastern state of turin jia is seen as breaking a political taboo one of the parties involved as chancellor angela merkel's conservative cd. you and the tremors are being felt thousands of kilometers away in

south africa where merkel is paying an official visit it was the 1st topic that merkel addressed at a news conference there. but this is an extraordinary election result which undermines the long held values of both the c.d.u. and myself namely that we do not except majorities achieved with help from the a.f.d. . that has always been clear. this is an inexcusable situation and a result that must be reversed immediately. to see do you will not participate in any government formed with the newly elected state president. i mean do you think. this is a bad day for democracy one which breaks with the long held beliefs and traditions of the sea do you think we will now do everything we can to make clear that this is

in no way in line with what our party represents and has done throughout history. and this will be our focus over the coming days. to come. all right let's bring in our chief political editor michelle akutan are on the story we had a chance are there say this is an excusable so what did you make of her comments. well it's very remarkable that she spoke as chancellor and no longer a party leader and yet she felt she needed to say a clear word about what we saw essentially taking place in a federal state in germany and the reason why this is such a political earthquake here and many is that it smacks of political references that anger that merkel's own party would team up with the far right a

d party is being described by some political leaders here as having the volume or the volume of a public germany's 1st attends that democracy where then the middle ground conservative 6 party teamed up with the far right and sensually pave the way to art of hitler coming to power that's put the political weight the historical ways that is coming down on angle americans own party right now after numerically helping together with the far right a 50 to get someone elected whose own party have barely made the 5 percent percent threshold in the state of the ring and then the far right if the party leader can legally be called a fascist there's a court ruling on that so a lot to talk about and a lot of internal discussion to be had and angela merkel's own party over what

happened there the chancellor said this needs to be reversed immediately but what can the federal government in berlin actually do here. well the government can do nothing the central parties the c.d.u. also can't tell their regional party branches how to act so that's a deliberate post-war construction here in germany as a federal state to actually prevent extremist parties from having this kind of opportunity to take over and have kind of a to tell it tell a tarion state again now this is somewhat in reverse we heard from the party leader of america's party i think they've come count all that she tried to persuade her own party branch not to go ahead and potentially team up with the far right if tea that was to no avail so we're now seeing a struggle that was pretty much under the carpet between those states those far

right if the stronghold states and individual conservative m.p.'s there who wanted to team up with the a 50 and angle americal central party h.q. here in berlin and at the moment it's by no means certain what the outcome will be it's clear i'm going to mco self would like to see fresh elections but again that's not a given it'll be sure this happened in the state of turin in the east of the country this is a state with the far right if he has a particularly strong influence despite the outrage could we see this happen in other german states. well actually if you just me 2 days ago i would would have said you wouldn't see this happening in syria so i wouldn't really want to speculate on that but what is quite clear is that the if team managed to achieve one of their central aims which is to get other conservative parties kind of middle

ground conservative parties to team up with them to cooperate with them and this is crossing a political red line this is something i'm going to michael's own party has ruled out in the past and the free democrats who suddenly see their representative their become state premier also now have to ask some really serious questions about what the future could potentially hold in terms of dealing with the far right if t. in germany our chief political editor michel and thank you so much. well as we said a hugely controversial story here in germany and did have used very has been looking into reactions on social media for us hi jill what have you been seeing well the reaction has been stunned surprised and sad if anyone thought that this would go unnoticed outside the small state of touring go online reaction is showing us that it's actually having resonance right across europe now this hash tag is

trending. d.p. that's a combination of the 2 party names i d and f.t.p. also being merged together these party logos in this image there's a video that's become quite a meme it's of the party leader the left party leader susana handing dumping flowers at the feet of the new state lida thomas kenniff now she's being compared to nancy pelosi in the u.s. who's of course famous for hotate downs of donald trump in the u.s. congress there there have been some voices who have been speaking out in defense of this outcome such as this post from f.t.p. federal member gun could be key saying what the constitution allows shouldn't be discredited he and a few others a pointing out that the result was achieved democratically even if tactically and we've heard also that some people are making comparisons to particularly dark chapter in germany sister tell us more about that but let's not forget that is the

state where the nazis 1st came to power they were given ministerial posts there in 1930 as a result of collaboration with liberal parties so now let's have a look at some photos being shed from yesterday we saw an image of chemical shaking hands with a.s.d. state leave the on hookah and then that's been compared with this image from the 19330 out of hitler and the german president paul from hindu who appointed him chancellor even though the nazis were only a minor party at the time and one of the people who shed these images across europe is gave the hoffs that who also wrote what. an interesting it is totally unacceptable not in my name he's relevant because until last year was the leader of the european alliance of which the f.d.p. was a member of poise a member i should say there is an image that's doing the rounds that's coming back to haunt the new state leader chemical as well here he is in front of his own election billboard which says

a skinhead who has an ignored his history now back then he presumably meant it to mean that he's the good kind of skinhead but now it's taken on a whole new meaning he's just been elected with the support of the party leader who some are calling a nazi now we've heard of course now from german chancellor angela merkel who said this result should be reversed whether that happens will it in any case damage has been done to multiple german institutions and the reaction is only growing right getting chilled all right bringing us all the reactions there from social media thank you very much. let's get a roundup now of some other stories making headlines around the world 3 people were killed and dozens injured when a plane skidded off the runway at istanbul's 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. italian authorities say 2 people were killed when

a high speed train derailed several others suffered serious injuries and investigation is underway to determine the cause of the do d. rail meant which happened around 50 kilometers south of milan. an 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 and the incident came as 2 palestinians were killed in clashes with israeli forces. you're watching news still to come on our show wiki leaks founder julian assange is due to appear in court in london in connection with an extradition request by the u.s. but the u.n. repertoire on torture tells us he believes western democracies are manipulating the evidence. but 1st the world health organization is calling for almost 700000000 dollars to help fight the coronavirus it says the 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 it's correspondent bringing 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 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 not 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 this same approach everyone is wary. because they are under it's a national emergency we stand together for one a 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 only people from whom 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. trains are running as usual it's the passengers who are like. this circle line that some of beijing's most in the patient shopping area is the railway station. relative. 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 ministers of mark karr brielle is among more than $130.00 public figures who say they want the u.k. to follow the advice of the un special properties or on torture to release a songe on medical grounds the founder of wiki leaks which of publishers news leaks

and classified material is in a high security british prison awaiting extradition to the u.s. on spying charges he 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 but 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 to grow fuge 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 . her son has always denied those allegations saying they 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 sanch 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 shows he was soldiers opening fire on people in baghdad and killing several civilians and 2 journalists.

a son 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 niels meltzer is a united nations special wrapper tour on torture who investigated this case mr meltzer thank you so much for joining us here on d 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 the charges have been dropped are these assault allegations false were they fabricated. well i have to admit when i 1st got into this case i was a guru lucked into look into this because i wasn't a super pression like everybody else in the public. interest some guilty or he's

a nurses pack her rapist and so i was very reluctant to get into the schools just as lawyers convinced me to look just a few key pieces of evidence and destroy it as soon as you scratch the surface of his public narrative slightly it becomes a very contradictory and you can see those internal correspondence between police officers in the dictionary to the statements of the alleged victims and we can see the list and the woman who was supposedly raped sends a text message to the friends out of the police and intuition saying i don't want to look it was a subject anything i just want him to do in each i detest what the police wants to get their hands on him 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 that are riddled with grave due process violations

we should all match in interest of getting justice here he said how that you know that during a fount of lawyers approached you asking for you to look at this case you were a big un special rapporteur on torture was julian assange tortured. well that was the other reason i was reluctant to get into this because i didn't 1st see the link to my mandates but then it immediately became clear to me that there's actually 3 aspects that are important your 1st distress sounds disclosed and reveals 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 that was to medical experts who specialize in examining torture victims and both of them came to conclusion that he showed typical signs for psychological torture so again this falls within my monday at the

u.k. government is what life should investigate as is to provide address will be done now thirdly he is frightened of the 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 sam special that we've noticed is measures which worldwide are considered to be in violation of the provision of 2 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 in the public this statement because i thought no one will believe me but i have 2 pieces of evidence and that puts to questions trudy's for states that i asked them to explain how their conduct is complained was 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 right a stark warning there from nails now also united nations special properties or on torture thank you so much for joining us on day to day. now it is a practice that usually causes lifelong physical and psychological damage female genital mutilation ask g.m. the united nations is set today february 6th as an annual day to draw attention to the problem which is more widespread than you might think now s.g.m. is carried out in communities around the world but it is particularly prevalent in these regions here in africa the arab world and in asia and it's thought that up to 200000000 women and girls have undergone some form of female genital mutilation now 3 countries in particular egypt ethiopia and also indonesia these 3 countries have the most cases by far in egypt 87 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49

are thought to be affected well debbie went to indonesia to meet a family for home after i am is a normal part of life. so the decision has already been made puteri is just 3 years old but she's already undergone an irreversible surgery that's fraught with controversy and she had no choice in the matter. the circumcision was done when she was a week old. we went to a clinic and got it down there. to have the 1st point is mainly for hygiene for children's health so they can grow up healthy. female genital mutilation or if g.m. has been practiced for generations across indonesia the world's biggest muslim majority country for many it's considered a rite of passage. previous generations felt the same way about it.

they did it because of their beliefs and they didn't have a problem with it it's totally safe and the girls grow up just fine just a few doors down a similar story. what that all the little ones and it's a tradition that has been around for generations a girl must be circumcised before she is 40 days old if you wait until she gets bigger she may feel embarrassed but when she's a baby she doesn't have any feelings of shame it's estimated nearly half of all women in indonesia have undergone the procedure in 2006 the government tried to ban the practice religious clerics reacted releasing an edict declaring it a part of religious tradition less than 5 years later a new regulation allowing health practitioners to perform if g.m. was introduced still many doctors disagree with it. magically there is no benefit to female circumcision in fact it's more dangerous

than beneficial especially for those carried out by someone who's not a trained medical professional. for all the medical expertise and evidence against if g.m. the practice continues leaving millions of girls like poetry to carry the scars for the rest of their lives the legendary oscar winning actor kirk douglas has died at the age of 103 he's considered one of the last movie legends of hollywood's golden era he was famous felt on screen and off his son the actor michael douglas an ounce to his death saying his life was well lived and he leaves a legacy in film that will endure for generations. he was one of hollywood's greats and treated accordingly kirk douglas korea spend several decades and it was prolific with more than 90 credits to his name. in

a statement announcing his death his son and fellow oscar winning actor michael douglas said to many my father was a legend but to me he was simply dead. born in 916 kirk douglas made his name in hollywood's golden age of movie making he was one of the biggest box office stars of the 19 fifties and sixties possibly he was most famous for his role in the 960 s. classic spartacus he was nominated for 3 oscars eventually winning the honorary award in 996 for his more than 50 years in filmmaking much chance of marry me tomorrow is today that's no chance at all. in 2001 douglas was honored at germany's biggest film festival the $1000000000.00 receiving a golden bear was again for his lifetime achievements was accepting the award he charmed the crowd by saying more than just a few words in german was. is.

here. but is. kirk douglas spent a lifetime in front of cameras and crowds and his legacy is not going to fade any time soon thanks so much. ok let's get a reminder of our top story here and there is outrage and shock in germany after for the 1st time a mainstream party joined up with the far right to gain control of a state government chancer uncle michael says the deal is unforgivable and must be reversed. well don't forget you can always get to give you news on the go download or out 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 are part of a news story you can also use the app to send us your photos and videos of what is

happening where you are. coming up next our show conflict zone attempts about him looks back at the big issues of bragg's that interviewing key players from all sides of the debate statement about.

the body. to the conflict here in. it's still all about bricks the bricks are threats it to break up the bricks of what we all should fall was making the right decisions and steering the right ship we want to stay friends with our british neighbors shrek's it is really it is best going to go for it so special this week we look back at some of the key

arguments begin to shake this all for the gang great pranks it debate conflicts are . next on d w. earth . home to millions of species a home worth saving. here which is on those are big changes and most start with small steps global ideas tell stories of creative people and innovative projects around the world like news that protect the climate is to green energy solutions and reforestation. they create interactive content teaching the next generation about environmental protection and more determined to build something here for the next generation of global ideas the multimedia environment series on t.w. . stories of people world over information

provide. the means of the want to express g w on facebook and twitter up to date and in touch follow us. here in london it's still all about bricks it sits bricks it spreads it debate the analysis on what bricks it really means is still out of bricks it bricks it what we opted for was making the right decisions and steering the right ship for exit back cigarettes if we want to stay friends with our british neighbors. president is mad i have to defend the interests of european citizens the fact that referendum has been hugely divisive in this country in a conflict so special this week we look back at some of the key arguments for the shake this off an angry debate.