from a destroyed city. philippines in the. stores may 20th on g.w. . the fact that. this is the news live from berlin germany gets back to business spots within limits officials clear the way for restaurants shops of all sizes and schools to reopen but until america wants that a spike in new corona virus infections could lead to lockdown again also coming up a gas leak at a chemical plant on india's east coast kills at least 8 people struggling to

breathe collapsed in the streets and hundreds have been closed it's. called africa's most fragile fragile country still struggles as it marks just over a year since a peace deal tens of thousands remain displaced in the central african republic and in desperate need. just fear of the coronavirus turns to hate peaceful or a pandemic of racism directed at people of asian descent. welcome to the program germany is back in business keeping the option to shut down again that's the word from chancellor angela merkel who announced the easing of some coronavirus lockdown measures in the coming weeks germany's 16 states will now

manage the gradual reopening of more businesses and schools it will be a balancing act between preventing infection and allowing public life to resume. in the town of vine ma in central germany restaurants and cafes have already started to reopen customers must be seated outside with their need 2 people allowed per table it's self service and there are strict hygiene rules but for many this is more than enough. to says. it's wonderful it's liberating and healthy i think. it's nice to see how happy people are it's joyful through history for the record i'm happy to be able to go out again it's a group from saturday more restaurants in cafes across germany as well as all shops will start to reopen as part of the next phase in relaxing lockdown restrictions

but there will be regional variations due to germany's federal division of power as . we have seen good progress as far as the number of new infections is concerned that means we can now take further steps. with the union. but we have to be careful to keep control of the emergency response mechanism we have to fed it means i can feel quite confident. before that means that if the number of infections rises too high in any region tougher restrictions must be introduced there but for now it's up to the 16 state governments to decide how and when to reopen day care facilities restaurants and hotels social distancing rules are to be extended for another month although members of 2 separate households can now meet launch event like concerts remain

banned until the end of august but the bundesliga football season will be allowed to resume in mid may with strict rules in place. germany is gradually reopening albeit with restrictions but these regained freedoms will only last as long as the corona virus infection rate remains under control. while the problems are political correspondent covering the story for us is infectious disease agency either all but. just this morning warns that could be a 2nd wave before to factor into the government's plans. well it certainly plays a huge role in the government's plans right now and something that they will be keeping an eye on both at state and federal level as the restrictions are eased across germany and as you say the robert cole institute confirmed as well as today that the reproduction rate in germany now has fall into north point $65.00 but at

the same time the vice president over the situ said that this is not a signal that germany has the all clear and right now as under michael has said on several occasions until there is a vaccine coded 19 is very much going to be present in german life and in this new normal but germans are now going to be getting new city as a restrictions at ease on public life. this new normal u.k. while many businesses are being given the green light for this new normal parents in particular are very happy why's that. exactly there's been a lot of comparisons drawn in the last few hours or so since those announcements were made yesterday afternoon by angela merkel not only because things like the blunders leader will be able to resume albeit behind closed doors but that there are also plans in place for things like tourism gastronomy and those of her thesis cultural events but the one thing that seems to be missing so far is daycare and

kindergartens and that has drawn huge criticism from parents who are desperately trying to balance working from home at the minute many of them wanting to also return to work or working in offices all the place of work where possible as well right now but there's also been criticism on the lack of measures being taken to ensure that day care for everyone from the social democrats and also the green party as well as social democrats leader and one of the co-leaders saying today that they sent a fatal signal to families so there has been huge criticism on that front and all we heard from anglo-american yesterday was that it is going to take a while and of course there are also concerns as well especially for those children from from vulnerable homes who are in more difficult situations and what staying at home for longer might mean for them to many states now have a lot of freedom in terms of how far and how fast they go and relaxing restrictions

or reducing them in fact what's the emergency brake and who's going to pull them. so basically this is a threshold that's been set and each individual state will be responsible for this so if there are 50 or more than 50 new cases per 100000 inhabitants in a district in the last 7 days then the state each individual state will be responsible for every implementing restriction so we could indeed see pockets of many lock downs and restrictions being reimplemented here in germany germany similar to the ones that we've seen over the in previous weeks. said brady thank you and here's a round up of some of the latest pandemic news more than 3700000 people have been infected with the coronavirus globally and more than 260000 have died according to data from johns hopkins university russia has now passed germany and france to run

fis on the list of countries with the most infections a new record daily spike of more than 11000 new cases as pushed russia's total caseload past 177000 the number of deaths in sweden now stands at more than 3000 its come under scrutiny for lock down measures some consider more lax than many of its hard hit european neighbors egypt extended a nationwide nighttime curfew until end of the holy month of ramadan in about 2 and a half weeks time for in india at least 11 people died in a gas leak at a chemical factory located in the city of fisher cup known hundreds been hospitalized and more than 1500 evacuated from nearby villages a south korean firm that owns the factories says the gas leak has now been brought under control. the leak could residents off guard. and hit the

most vulnerable. some of the victims collapsed as they try to flee. others appeared dizzy and unsteady. eyewitnesses said the gas came like a mist. suddenly in the middle of the night where most with sleeping. emergency services transported hundreds to hospital for several children among those needing treatment. all i think about 800 to 1000 people have gone to the hospital and they have been taken to get off so now the focus is not so budge on the guys leakage as the effect of the gas leakage on the treatment of the of the people who have been affected. most of those admitted to hospital are now reported to be either in a stable condition or to have been discharged it's still unclear though it's a toxic fumes will have a lasting impact on their health and

a few patients who are still said to be unconscious hours after arriving at the hospital. the plant where the accident happened l.g. polymers makes plastics one report suggested a leak of a substance called styrene happened as the site was starting to reopen after india's lockdown because of the coronavirus. prime minister narendra modi said he was keeping an eye on the situation from delhi and wished all those affected a speedy recovery. it's clear many are still in shock over the incident but it seems they will have to wake the results of an investigation to find out how and why this happened. on this story from an erasure diaries that she's our correspondent in delhi and there are hundreds in the hospital some still unconscious after the leaking of styrene what do we know about this gas and the

factory. well the factories as you call it might just situated about 20 kilometers in the. southern indian city oh. so this factory is involved in making up one of those and specifically polystyrene it's now this diving gas is used to produce polystyrene which is a was a type plastic used in making rubber. to this gas is a toxic gas and although it does complicate but it can actually do it on food if they're just concealed and not want to do that and concentrated on keane's especially by younger children. there is the situation now on the control is that still health risks for people living in the area well soon after the leak was just go what immediate measures were taken and people in areas surrounding the plant many villages they were evacuated because it was reported that the spread the type specter with nice to meet is a few miles around the plant and multiple little just come on the back tributes so

there was a door to go to the accusation there were rescue teams on the ground hundreds as you mentioned what taken to the hospital some have been discharged some wanted you to be in not functions right now and they're still awaiting the impact of the treatment that they're getting at least 11 people have died at the moment i think though for the government of the local government and for the national government their priority is that of saving lives only after that there will be analysis on what a life long or long time in fact this past week and travel is because. there is there any indication what might of course that city. well there were conflicting reports in the beginning there were reports that the plant was shut down because of the log down that was imposed nation wife to control the spread of corona wires which led to a chemical reaction of some sorts and led to the gas leak but later on an official from the local government of the state was supported us saying that the work of the

fact you are actually getting up to zoom the operations of the plant and that is what some i back point some accidents happen and the ghastly to believe from what they know also fought for in forensic teams are already on the ground that the investigation has started. but there is a diary reporting live from delhi thank you it's been just over a year since a peace deal was struck in one of africa's most fragile countries the central african republic the scars are still fresh there from the civil war that broke out in twenty's teen between the government muslim and christian militias against each other now the country is looking ahead to its presidential election a few months away but peace has barely had any effect for those displaced by the violence who live in desperate need. that movie time to come with me walk with me back to come and see i will show you my hands shown celine is 27 years

old on employed a mother of somebody malnourished children she's i'm intimately displaced woman currently living in karbala i'm on stable neighborhoods still controlled by armed groups so 500 kilometers from the couple of the central african republic she fled here to realty of safety of the hold one was killed. but that this is where i live with my 7 children this could be considered my bedroom and my living room this is all we have. done this is not a good place for us sean flynn is just one of the more than 700000 internally displaced people in the central african republic. some 12000 you and blue helmets do the best to supply humanitarian aid and protection to those suffering here but it's a tall order they have to maintain peace and security in the territory larger than friends and belgium put together the problem here is you have several crises you

cannot control an area where you put an end to these kind of violations whenever you move to other place to ensure security does and groups start again. taxations which is extremely difficult so the solution is keep putting pressure and also move towards the sanctions theoretically the peacekeeping missions monday is strong enough to supply the assistance of the central african republic. however the political situation remains fragile with the mystic and international groups frustrated to due to record violations by the groups in the country. for years of negotiations the current president has reached out to the rebels until he signed the agreement with them but on the other hand there is no answer with them because their primary mission is to get rich and do business. honestly for peace to return the government must impose itself and use the language of arms against these rebels

who don't want to understand anything. but the security situation on the ground is not the only issue for people living in this region and winter and concerns to loom large with much of the population not able to afford it will basic necessities get a lot no one could help me when my husband died we ran because of the constant threats and insecurity i'm suffering a law. i mean with my children the neighbor felt our pain and offered us this house the kids are still recovering and we're struggling to survive we have nothing to. the situation in the central african republic remains extremely volatile a few months ahead of presidential elections a fierce battle is already taking place on the political field the current president wants to remain in power and is facing a tough challenge from opposition leader francois boise a former head of state toward a sentry returns to the country the ongoing not pandemic is just more on certainties to an already almost future for the country. and after

a brief look at some other stories making headlines today iraq has a new prime minister the former intelligence intelligence chief. was sworn in after lawmakers approved his cabinet lineup and then 5 months of political deadlock is government faces an array of problems including a severe economic crisis and the prospect of renewed corruption protests. the italian coast guard has impounded the rescue ship and kurdi in sicily saying it has found technical irregularities the ship which picks up migrants in the mediterranean sea will be held by authorities until the issues are fixed. $3200000.00 americans filed for unemployment benefits last week measures devastated the u.s. economy even further is takes the total number of claims since early march to more than $33500000.00 on friday monthly figures are expected to show the jobless rate

at a record high of 16 percent. economic activity in russia has plunged by a 3rd because of the lockdown which was imposed in late march president vladimir putin has wanted could be more restrictions as the coronavirus continues to spread across the country. iran's economy has been in the doldrums for a while but now the coronavirus crisis has dealt an additional blow to its tourism industry to his most already struggling after the united states unilaterally cancelled the international nuclear treaty and impose new sanctions many took. guides bus drivers and workers have now lost jobs they've been used to be safe for traffic here eve usually packed up for miles but ever since the coronavirus a break the whole look of the iranian capital tehran has changed dramatically shops

and markets have been closed for a week and where hundreds of travelers squeezed into buses or subway cars now there are empty seats. the tourism industry already struggling with the impact of u.s. sanctions has also been badly hit there is advantage of our organizers group tours for foreign visitors they started coming in groups like this one shortly after the signing of the nuclear agreement 5 years ago in 2018 there were more than 7000000 tourists and the industry was racking up double digit growth rates those days are gone. we had a 90 percent cancellation rate recently. maybe the tourism industry will open up in the autumn and it can start to grow again at the moment there's no sign of that happening and we can't guarantee that we hope it will continue to grow at some

point. because the decline of the one time flagship industry does not only affect travel agencies tens of thousands of iranians have found jobs in tourism in recent years they work as bus drivers hotel receptionists or as tour guides like. this 37 year old is fluent in english and german but that is of little use to him at the moment because the tourism season in iran which had only just begun will be completely wiped out this year. the situation is a bit more difficult than usual right now my colleagues call and ask if we have groups of tourists and unfortunately it's not because you need to have a 2nd job to make do for example german. iran is starting to loosen the coronavirus restrictions step by step but nearly all areas

of the economy are suffering from the near total absence of tourists they bring much sought after scarce foreign currency into the country. these are needed to buy medicine and protective equipment overseas. now with the start of the summer holiday season across europe fast approaching many people are wondering how they'll be able to enjoy a beach holiday on the coronavirus restrictions. this is what a silk beach in spain's northwest region normally looks like in mid summer but it's currently closed because of the panda now the town council has come up with plans that will ensure social distancing is maintained beach will be divided up into 5 sections and patrolled by attendance only hof the usual number of people will be allowed on the beach at any one time but it should mean it will be open by the middle of june. since the beginning of the corona

crisis there's been a rise in the number of people who say they've been abused or even attacks because of the color of their skin being linked to parts of the world seen as viral hotspots for no other reason than their appearance it's happening here in germany as well. it all started in early march victoria noticed something that shifted when she rode public transportation skeptical glances from passengers others who had moved to different parts of the train. at 1st i thought i was imagining things but then i noticed people would look at my face and then sit somewhere else i followed 3 of them just to make sure they didn't simply get off the train and went to other compartments or sat in the bicycle section. victoria corriveau who is german her parents moved here long before she was born she's used to experiencing discrimination for being

a visible minority but once the 1st cases of coronavirus appeared here such incidents became more frequent of oberlin is widely seen as a tolerant diversity there's an undercurrent of hatred one man even told her she should spray herself with disinfectant. i've been keeping a low profile because i'm afraid of more attacks like that one. i have to admit when i see a bunch of people outside a bar i cross to the other side of the street to avoid being hassled. i'm glad to be working from home these days because i have the sense that even though i live in berlin people don't see me as german and. victoria tried to talk to her friends about it but they shied away from the subject she doesn't think they're taking the problem seriously. then through

facebook she made contact with people across the country who were having the same kind of experience since the pandemic began they have reported almost daily occurrences of hostility just because they look asian hi nice to see you. on who's from china also lives in berlin he's filmed in city. of racial abuse he's experienced on the subway. and a friend told me you should you should totally report it even though i don't have much hope on the. police but because i want to at least to show people that i have this evidence and i'm not going to being silence about all of the poor. little time. victoria court of says it's been helpful to compare notes with others in the same boat that prompted her to create a website that helps bring people together and offer support. it's important for

people to be connected this way in times of social distancing to share your experience so others know what's going on. racism is nothing new in germany and victoria court of new fears it will be around a long time after the pandemic is over but she's determined to make a difference so people like her feel less alone. the anonymous british artist banksy is known for his subversive street author pops up in unexpected places is the latest piece is a tribute to health workers on the frontline against covert 19 and surprised stuff a southampton general hospital in southern england and shows a boy who's discarded spider-man and batman in favor of his prized new action hero and us the work will be auctioned off to raise money for britain's national health service. and here's a reminder of the top stories we're following for you here at the w.

news more german businesses are getting ready to reopen as the country moves to further relax coronavirus was frictions schools will also gradually resume but social distancing rules will remain until of these june 5th and lock downs could be reimposed if infections spiked again. at least 8 people died when a gas when gas leaks from a chemical factory on india's east coast people struggling to breathe collapsed in the street and hundreds up in hospital the doctors in a sense that he is now on the phone. and finally the german electronic dance across that has lost one of its founding members. leslie has died at the age of $73.00 after suffering from cancer cough the chief international fame of the 1970s with hits like also bon and console by

express the band's pioneering electronic sound is credited with influencing genres ranging from hip hop to techno believe to now with the music of coffee. in. odd.

little. funny lady survived the nazis the persecution and the holocaust her non jewish friends in berlin helped her she remain very close to her rescuers all her life the german resistance memorial center in berlin commemorates these unsung heroes and

their courageous engagement from a man to some goose girl. next on g.w. . what see. critz life behind. discover new adventures in 360 degree. and explore fascinating world heritage sites. w world heritage 360 to get the maps now. it's a deadly city. and the whim of nature. motivates a. mystery lists greed. the desire.

drives. the city to. play why are we greedy. we go in search of answers in a documentary so. start. w. planes. hello and welcome to focus on europe the corona crisis is still taking its toll on lives and businesses across the continent the tourism industry has been especially hard hit.