this is t w news coming to you live from berlin germany announces the 1st step towards lifting its lockdown and reopening the economy. we have to understand that as long as there's no in fact we have to live with the virus chance but i'm glad michael says beginning next monday small shops can open for business again but social distancing measures will stay in place also coming up

a gloomy economic outlook for asia the international monetary fund says there'll be 0 growth in the region for the 1st time since the 19 sixty's because of the coronavirus and getting away from it all even during the long down hotels and resorts in russia try to tempt people to spend their quarantine in a beautiful place. well i'm sorry martin good to have you with us germany is preparing to gradually reopen its schools and allow smaller shops to resume business chancellor angela merkel announced the measures wednesday after consulting the leaders of germany 16 states many restrictions will remain in place though as the country continues to fight the credit buyer's pandemic the chancellor said the country's efforts to contain the outbreak had been partially successful but that the situation remained

fragile. it's been 3 weeks since chancellor angela merkel announced the initial restrictions on contact now have been 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 others. from may 4th schools will gradually re-open 1st for school leavers 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 to cinemas and music venues will keep the shutters down only shops up to $800.00 metres square can reopen from monday facemasks 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 me become an. install skipped 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 slow. to be a political correspondent in motherwell chavez has more on the story for us a mother well small steps here back to normality how are people reacting to the

government's plans. well i think there were introduced surprise that for example social these dancing would be reconvicted would go further but of course the announcement that for example some stores might be able to reopen in the coming weeks that comes as a relief for those people working in those industries and also there's a relief for example for some parents for some students that key classes for example the final years with exams will be reopened at the beginning of may for those of the students who have exams to pass and now it's worth noting that more than half of the german population was actually happy we saw restorations currently in place with even around 10 percent wanting even more stringent measures so they weren't being taken by surprise that the social distancing measures were conducted the government well is recommending wearing face masks on public

transport for example why isn't mandatory if it's considered so important. indeed the government subsidy very short of making it mandatory but i'm going to america highlighted the fact that we are seeing more and more people aware in mosques even without it being made mandatory by the government does of course the example of neighboring austria where people for example are being handed the entrance of supermarkets and since store can only stores here in germany i can only reopen was they've made sure that their respect social distancing and hygiene has become very well imagine something similar in that people of their own will mosques without it being mandatory all these measures that were announced yesterday be imposed across the country or will german states continue to implement their own rules. well there will be implemented across the country indeed however this is up

to 16 states to be responsibly for doing so for example how we tend where schools we reopen to each region each german state to decide and of course this will all depend on the evolution of the pandemic east stays flat eat dinner amber of infections don't increase then more and more places will be able to reopen and there will be a new evaluation of the situation on a pre the thirty's but i'm going to america warned that as long as we will have to live with the virus was no perspective of a vaccine or other cure this won't be back to normality it went well thank you very much that was the political correspondent and we'll shards. now a quick look at some of the other coronavirus developments around the world cases of the novel coronavirus have topped 2000000 worldwide over a quarter of them are in the united states efforts to slow the spread of the virus or disrupting africa's vulnerable food supply lockdowns and over half the

continent's 54 countries have blocked farmers from getting food to market and many informal markets are shot australia will keep lockdown instructions in place for know at least another month in the meantime it will expand testing and improve its ability to contact trace and several us states of announced rules or recommendations for residents to wear face coverings when they cannot maintain 2 metres of social distancing through my grants heading for europe fled war and poverty in their own countries but many ended up instead ended up stranded for months in overcrowded and squalid camps in greece now the 1st 12 unaccompanied migrant children from those camps have landed in luxembourg under a new program that aims to eventually resettle more than $1600.00 of them around europe. touched down in luxemburg safety finally for 12 unaccompanied minors they were living in refugee camps on the greek islands of

chios some months and as now they have the chance to start a new life in luxemburg after a period in quarantine. you have been to. school with so we've not made the world a better place or made it more beautiful 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 without was fear and one life in peace. i believe in freedom. thousands of minors 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.

taut and for his canoe plots and there's not enough spaces not enough medicine north enough doctors on site to deal with the situation appropriately and it's really embarrassing and we're here in europe and we're not able to make sure these people's lives in no longer in danger and even before us and germany wants to follow luxembourg's lead it is expected to take in up to 50 and accompanied miners next saturday. here's a look at small the stories making headlines around the world today partial results from south korea's general election show a landslide election victory for the left leaning governing party the democratic party looks set to gain a majority in the national assembly boosted by an effective response to the coronavirus the election was carried out under strict search will distancing rules 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 in

a video message mr biden has now been endorsed by all his major former rock. the world's richest men jeff bezos has become even richer shares in his retail giant have a zone of shot up in value according to bloomberg base those assets have increased by 24000000000 to over 138000000000 dollars since the beginning of this year i was on the liver services have been in high demand as people stay home during the coronavirus help break. well there's been international condemnation of donald trump's decision to freeze u.s. funding of the world health organization president tropic used the u.n. body of failing and its efforts to response the crowd of ourself right although he's been under fire himself for his handling of the pandemic for its part the w.h.o. says it regrets trump's move. the world health organizations response to the

white house on wednesday was clear the world's most vulnerable may now be at greater risk. w.h.o. works to improve the health of many of the world's poorest and most notable people. is not only fighting could be benign to trump's decision to cut w.h.o. funding amid a pandemic has stunned the global community and drawn criticism from experts back home. you know credible. concerns. absolutely can be raised right now from that. perspective we believe that the president should reconsider. despite the backlash trump on wednesday reiterated his concerns over the w h o's handling of the early stages of the outbreak. and you see what happened in

italy you see what happened to spain you see what happened to france. w h o's guidance had failed to control their borders at a very crucial phase quickly unleashing the contagion around the world the us is now the worst affected country worldwide with more cases and more deaths than anywhere else white house critics believe more should have been done by the trumpet ministration and that the president is now deflecting blame the united nations health agency says unity is needed now more than ever should. the i.m.f. says that the asia pacific region will experience 0 growth this year for the 1st time since the 1960 s. due to the massive economic damage caused by the crown of virus the new report warns that the impact of in asia will be quote severe across the board and unprecedented massive drops in industrial and retail activity major supply chain disruption and

a huge collapse in demand from europe and north america have been felt across the continent since the start of the year. as well clifford could in from the w. business is covering the story for us and joins us now in the studio good to see it clifford so we know the coronavirus is having a devastating impact impact on economies around the world what are the biggest factors affecting asia according to the i.m.f. well i think one of the things that we've seen is there's never a good time to have a global pandemic but it's a particularly bad time for asia as it's slowly emerging from a very bruising trade war we're seeing a lot of slowing growth in the in the region's biggest economy china and also in the other side these days in areas so the i.m.f. is calling this the great lock down recession and the you know it's the worst the worst in 6 decades as you say so what we're seeing is china and then also the global slowdown these 2 factors together really causing havoc with asian economies

now you mention china. during the recession of 2009 china was able to pick up a lot of the economic slack in the region are they in a position to do that now well back then chinese economy was growing by 9.4 percent and that didn't change during the whole great recession now it's in much more indebted position this bruising trade war with the us. it's doesn't have the same tools as it at its disposal as it used to so we're not really seeing any major policy response from from china yet to help there been one or 2 small things but they haven't really freed up any money again because they're worried about incurring too much debt so china isn't going to be able to carry the burden of the global economy this time around the way it looks what do you see and say should be done in response to the slowdown particularly in asia well i meant is calling for the global coordinated global response they say that 1st priority has to be to

shore things up protect the health sector contain the virus. as it were but then after that central banks need to do things like provide liquidity cut interest rates a key thing for them to do is to support lending to small and medium sized companies these are the backbone of a lot of asian economies. they're in a very very difficult position now because as we know these these economies are often still very much in the developing stage exactly and many of these are emerging economies they don't have particularly strong social safety net some of these countries. what what are the implications of the slowdown for the in terms of the impact on the poor in the people who may not have resources to to cope well i think in. young rees blog today the i.m.f.'s economist blog today he said we need to whatever it takes approach and i think that's what we're going to see we're going to see different responses from from different countries so far

a lot of these countries. already applied for i.m.f. health that's one thing that he offered again and half of all countries have actually applied for i.m.f. help at this stage so clearly this is going to be a big factor but whatever it takes to support these small companies to just get to keep the economy's going on till the virus is eventually dealt with the good news is that growth could return to nearly 8 percent next year according to the i.m.f. . the condition of the virus doesn't come back so if there's a coordinated approach between stopping the virus and trying to keep economies afloat the chances for the global economy are looking reasonably positive so far thank you very much for coming in from t w business. you're watching news coming up later in the program great heart inspired by yourself isolation if you're getting bored and try reproducing well known works of art in your own living room bedroom or bathroom.

to the kenyan capital nairobi were 60 percent of the population about 2000000 people live in cramped conditions and urban slums many rely on schools to provide meals for their children but those are now closed and food banks for the poor and homeless are rare in kenya so some businesses and n.g.o.s are calling on people to donate money food and goods for those in need so an eco reports. with the arrival of the coronavirus in kenya a young group of volunteers set up an initiative to distribute food can construct up together with community activists they now directly if it runs in poorer neighborhoods around nairobi and. so we get donations and then we buy.

500 grams of sugar and. some other islam houses over 200000 people many here don't have running water sanitation entire families live in single room shacks and social distancing is a luxury they con for. the community activists and those who need the food most. the sick and orphans are priorities even so everyone here feels the effects of the economic downturn. most even. in the past 2 weeks a number of initiatives have come up online asking people to donate food or money to poor households the good thing is that people can donate money via their mobile

phones from the safety of their home in case of a lockdown this might be the best way of reaching those and meet. government hasn't reached people here not even the funds for the. rachel says that with the support of private initiatives they have helped $400.00 households. the volunteers know it's only a drop in the ocean but at least it's a start. in other news a 106 year old woman has been released from hospital in britain after recovering from 19 great grandmother connie is believed to be the country's oldest patient to recover from the disease she said she felt lucky to survive and was hungry after her. france's defense ministry says all 700 of the nearly 2000 sailors on board shawl to go aircraft carrier have and escort vessels have tested positive for the corona virus more than 30 have been hospitalized the

carrier was ordered to ordered back to port after an outbreak on board. a french court has ordered to stop selling non-essential goods for months and improve its hygiene rules due to coronavirus the giant u.s. online retailer said it will appeal the decision which also ordered a hygiene inspection of distribution centers over the next month the company faces fines of up to a 1000000 euros per day if it does not comply. working from home chatting sending sensitive data to cloud services since the law began workflows have moved online it's a convenient solution for many in times of pandemic but it's but i.t. experts are warning that cyber security and data protection could get squashed. like in the age of coronavirus people keeping their distance seeking to gather list

digitally using platforms that were once unfamiliar millions working from home uploading sensitive data to klout servers or chatting about work related matters germany's top data protection official kessler is worried. when attention illustration catch up hearing authorities and businesses are now noticing that the infrastructure was only part of their body and now they have to come up with temporary work arounds a few of them are problematic when it comes to both cyber security and data protection. and some say the popular video chat programs room is problematic with reports of hacked meetings stolen data and vague privacy statements. a few of the zooms flaws have trod attention in recent weeks but because they were quickly dealt with they've been viewed as forgivable and still it's an image that suggests the firm doesn't take users

privacy and security all too seriously. and c.e.o. eric yuan says zoom is now focusing on security fixes but how is this all supposed to work with a lockdown and spending more time online will data protection fall by the wayside. we have to make sure that we don't forget the rule of law in light of all this improvising at the moment we're trying out a lot of new things. for me i think individuals should use common sense data can be kept locally in devices instead of uploading it you can encrypt important data those are the basic principles of data protection. now those principles some more important than ever coronavirus is causing major changes to both the real world and the digital domain. it is in many countries hotels in russia are bracing for cancellations during what would normally be the beginning of

the spring travel season but some operators are trying a new tactic marketing themselves to locals who need a safe place to quarantine yourself isolate take a look. ever felt like you needed a vacation after your vacation well if you've returned from a coronavirus hotspot 2 weeks of alone time may be mandatory as lockdowns in moscow st petersburg and other regions in russia continue occupancy rates at hotels have plummeted so managers and owners are offering rooms or dachas to locals who need to go in to sell 14 after a getaway to a corona hot spot. we asked the authorities and made sure that we could offer accommodation especially since our houses are 5 to 8 metres apart so there is enough room for distance so we are still posting people and i hope we won't be stopped from doing it right here as we are barred from hosting guests that's it for us to protect the shrine. at the region show. and it's

not just lake houses in the countryside hotels in crowded cities like st petersburg and moscow have also been affected by the travel slowdown and they are hoping features like plenty of hand sanitizer and contactless check ins will entice locals to sit out their quarantine with them at this hotel you simply need a code to check in and go to room. with lock downs and travel restrictions expected to continue russian hotels like these are hoping this pivot will help them ride out the worst of the pandemic economic effects. if people stay at home to stop the spread of the coronavirus some are using their enforced idleness to turn their own 4 walls into works of art here's what one facebook facebook group in russia is doing. fly into a market check out painting from your bad. sink into the tragedy

of malays ophelia the thing greedy and it's from your kitchen. from edward monk to michelangelo social media users are giving out classics a quarantine make over. the russian base but group is there is a. isolation started as a challenge between friends in moscow just a few weeks later it has nearly half a 1000000 members from all over the world really of course no one expected such a huge reaction that's for sure the group grew so quickly right away people are really taking time for this going through our books looking at the websites of international museums to find the right picture for themselves and their families and you. the rules of the group are simple use a classic like this leonardo da vinci painting take the photo at home and use props that you happen to have lying around in quarantine photoshop is not allowed.

to just read my decided to take part in the art isolation project because i'm sick of my cat and she's sick of me. we are over broke why united are hard to miss project because it is uniquely wildly joyful and it gives everyone positive emotions it gives you a break from the difficult situation we are all and. used to say many of the recreate sions are a spontaneous thing but some people have been so in customs and getting the whole family involved including that. now there are around 2000 new posts every day according to the page administrators each one is a glimpse into how self isolation can sometimes open up new doors or draws to creativity.

just reminder the top stories we're following for you here today on d w news germany has announced the 1st steps towards lifting its lockdown and reopening the economy chance for a michael said that small shops can open for business again from next monday but social distancing measures will state employers. this is d.w. in berlin you can always get the latest news from us around the clock on our app for our website d w dot com i'm terry martin thanks watch. it

. when others give up. natalia keeps on fighting. many russian mothers are in similar situations. their sons have run afoul of the country's arbitrary justice. her only hope is protest. and she's

not on long. odds against coming. up next on g.w. or enter the conflict zone year after year the war in yemen goes on with no content in sight but who's really trying to stop it my guest this week here in munich is the country's foreign minister mohammed abdullah of germany's come to thousands of civilian casualties to be enormous human suffering all beings from nothing. conflicts of the day. in 60 minutes long t.w. . morrow a symbol of a long conflict in the philippines between the muslims and the christian population

last night as fighters occupied the city center in 2017 president due to his response was. this is not the kind of freedom that we. coded morale we become a gateway to islamist terror. an exclusive report from a destroyed city. in the sights of i.s.i. starts may 20th on w. . o. and a very warm welcome indeed to focus on europe with me peter craven and we begin in vladimir putin's russia a russia that tolerates little in the way of protest and those who do have.