i. prefer to treat stars made. this is g.w. news wiper from berlin tonight germany announcing the 1st steps to reopening its economy and lifting the lockdown the now rushing forward even if it's with the best intentions we have to understand that as long as there's no vaccine we have to live with this virus chancellor angela merkel says beginning next monday shops and stores will start business again social distancing however will remain also coming

up tonight the world health organization defends itself after the u.s. president freezes u.s. funding for the w.h.o. . at the w.h.o. done it the outbreak could have been contained at a source. with very little debt. w.h.o. says it did issue a strong and timely warning squats. on safe ground the 1st unaccompanied minor bring children from greece's overcrowded camps landed once the birth to begin a new life. i bring coffee it's good to have you with us germany is about to take the 1st step to reopening its economy beginning next monday stores in. will be back in business

schools will be back in session beginning the 4th of may the decision was reached today during consultations between chancellor i'm going to america and leaders of germany's 16 states. describing the country's success against the coronavirus pandemic as fragile with little room for maneuver or mistake. it's been 3 weeks since chancellor angela merkel announced the initial restrictions on contact now that being largely extended social distancing rules will remain in place until may 3rd groups will remain limited to 2 people and at least 1.5 metres must be kept from of us. from may 4th schools will gradually re-open 1st for school leave us in primary and secondary education day care will remain shut religious gatherings will also remain banned while major events including germany's beloved football will be called off until august 31st meanwhile restaurants cafes there

says cinemas and music venues will keep the shutters down only shops up to $800.00 metres square can reopen from monday face masks are also being recommended in shops and on transport. announced in the amended restrictions chancellor angela merkel warned against complacency but the. what we've achieved is an interim success no more no less and i emphasise it is a fragile interim success this is now determined our deliberations should be no rushing forward even if it's with the best intentions we have to understand that as long as there's no vaccine we have to live with the virus. that's kind of him to become in the. still 50 controls along germany's land borders with its neighbors in the schengen free travel zone will also remain in place for another 20 days. from now germany will continue keeping its distance the curb may be flattening but the

government it seems is taking things. are always been our political correspondent so i'm young he's on the story force you're in. saw i've been we know that there is a lot of pressure there was a lot of pressure on the government to do something was today's announcement was it a surprise to you with all. well i think they yeah i might have gone a bit further and sounded a bit more clearly and note that this is the beginning of the way back to some going of normal life off the coronavirus but of course as we know in many years as chancellor angela merkel tends towards caution anyway and i think the scientists continue to urge caution in dealing with this pandemic because as was being said again today you know even if there is some easing of the restrictions

now there could be bad news from the numbers at some point in the next few months that means that new restrictions have to be imposed so i suppose i'm not entirely surprised that we're seeing a very cautious and step by step approach the government is recommending so i mean that people wear face masks if they take public transportation and also when they go out in public to go shopping but they're not making it mandatory why is it not mandatory if the government thinks it's so important that it should be recommended . yes well you can always have a debate about whether. you can actually impose and force people to carry out measures of these kinds of course a lot of people would say it's pretty intrusive having to wear this covering of a of a mouth and nose at old times when i was in public but on the other hand they bring austria has introduced that for a public transport and save the market so that's going to be

a recommendation here i think some people are saying well they couldn't really have required people to do it because we know that taming this kind of equipment he's difficult gere in the crisis some people have been making their own mosques of course but it's difficult to to keep them and make them available to everybody he might need them so that's part of the reason. simon is this is a decision that is valid for the entire country because we knew germany is a federal country and there are 16 states that they have a lot of authority so are we going to see the same rules everywhere well the the rules in the recommendations the plan of the approaches the saying for the whole country but if the actual implementation will vary in particular in relation to schools they are going to start opening at the beginning of may but. varia and some other places may not but until a week or 2 off to that because they want to be

a bit more cautious there will be slight differences in the implementation of some of these new rules but i think the attempt today was to get a a unified response for all of germany some young on the story for us tonight here in berlin simon thank you. well there's been international condemnation of donald trump's decision to freeze u.s. funding for the world health organization president trump who himself has been under fire for his handling of the pandemic is accusing the u.s. agency of failing in its response to the pandemic well today the w.h.o. defended itself saying that it issued strong and timely warnings. the w.h.o. failed in its basic duty to save lives those were the words of president trump as he announced a freeze on funding for the u.n. agency today i'm instructing my administration to halt funding of the world

health organization while a review is conducted as the organization's leading sponsor the united states has a duty to insist on full accountability health trump has repeatedly criticized the w.h.o. throughout the pandemic this time claiming its bias towards china is responsible for the viruses rapid spread to other parts of the world had the w.h.o. done its job to get medical experts into china to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out china's lack of transparency the outbreak could have been contained at its source with very little death trump says the roughly $400000000.00 in annual contributions will now be pulled the decision drew a shopper rebuke from the german foreign minister who tweeted blaming does not help the virus knows no borders we should work together closely against kuwait 191 of

the best investment is to strengthen the u.n. especially the underfunded w.h.o. for example in the development and distribution of tastes and vaccines bill gates to call the move dangerous. the u.s. is the worst affected country in the world with more recorded cases and deaths than anywhere else times handling of the pandemic has also been widely criticized and his opponents say this latest announcement is nothing more than a deflection tactic. well here's a quick roundup of some of the other coronavirus developments around the world the number of confirmed corona virus infections has now passed the 2000000 mark with more than 130000 reported deaths the w.h.o. is warning that the world has not yet seen the peak of the outbreak new york's governor has issued a state wide order for people to wear face coverings in public places and the retail giant amazon says it may stop all services in france after

a court there ordered it to only deliver essential products and to improve worker protections and the g 20 group of li economies has agreed to suspend debt payments from the world's poorest countries until the end of the year is doing that to free up money to combat the pandemic. well here's a look now at some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world police in germany have arrested 4 suspected members of the islamic state militant group officials say the 4 men are believed to have been planning deadly attacks in the country including against u.s. military installations all 4 of the men are from a g.q. stand u.s. senator elizabeth warren has become the latest high profile democratic party figure to endorse joe biden to be the party's presidential nominee warren who ended her own bid for the white house last month announced her support today in a video message biden has now been endorsed by all of his former rival john.

it has been one year since paris's notre dame cathedral was badly damaged by a fire the building's great bell was rung on wednesday to mark the dates for innovation works have been put on hold due to the coronavirus and. they fled war and poverty in their own countries but they ended up stranded for months in overcrowded and squalid migrant camps in greece now the 1st 12 unaccompanied migrant children from those camps have landed in luxembourg under a year a new program that aims to eventually resettle more than $1600.00 children around your. touchdown in luxemburg safety finally for 12 and accompanied minors they were living in refugee camps on the greek islands of chios some loss and as now they have the chance to start a new life in luxemburg after

a period in quarantine. we haven't even. just clueless we've not made the world a better place or made it more beautiful but what we have here in the framework of the european union's peace project is actual solidarity with greece but also with people who have a right to a dignified life without hunger. with that was dear and also to a life in peace. i'm living in freedom. thousands of miners are stuck on the greek islands living in overcrowded camps they are mostly boys who fled their countries alone before the coronavirus crisis a group of european countries pledged to take in 1600 of them but the process has stalled and observers report the situation in the camps is getting worse. thought and. there's not enough space is not enough medicine not enough doctors on

site to deal with the situation appropriately and it's really embarrassing and here in europe and we're not able to make sure these people's lives and no longer in danger and even before. germany wants to follow luxembourg's lead it is expected to take in up to 50 unaccompanied minors next saturday. the coronavirus a walk down has made it tough for professional athletes to stick to their training regimes sporting events around the world may be cancelled but athletes they still need to maintain their fitness levels for one tunisian boxer who qualified for the now postponed tokyo lympics that means bringing the ring to her home to. the living room has become a temporary boxing ring. and have backyard is now a gym she needs in both mary and home ronnie is not sweating the coronavirus lockdown distract from her efforts she trained several times

a day with her husband who's also her coach determined to stay ahead of her future opponents. this is just to maintain my physical fitness since under these circumstances i am unable to get professional training or participate in competition and i've also been following other boxers who qualified for the olympics those in my weight bracket to city their strengths and their weaknesses. i'm ronnie secured her qualification for the tokyo olympics back in february those games have now been postponed to next year but home ronnie doesn't want to let what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity slip through her fingers where they can i don't think about how well or help poorly i train i only focus on the sacrifice and how patient i was and waiting for this moment i think of how i woke up at 3 am every day to train the when i'm in the ring i forget everything that the former ronnie will have to wait

a while yet before she's able to step into the ring again when that time comes she knows she will be ready. as a strong right hook there all right this is g.w. news kate ferguson is up next with business news she's got a good right because well she'll be right back after that. the global corona tri series you can find more information online at d.w. dot com and on social media channels.