i mean, you just gave it the trace of oil ministry of germany has just passed a grim new milestone. the number of corona virus infections is now past a 1000000. so how bad is the situation in a country once? famously, european poster child for pandemic control. and is the patient ready to take the medicine? and this is the day i may be making myself and popular but i think we shouldn't allow too

many people together over christmas here in berlin. this high number of cases the founders doesn't make any exceptions for christmas. every single day, people are dying. also, chemical weapons attacks of aliens are among the worst atrocities in syria's long civil war. now human rights organizations are hoping a german court can deliver justice for victims. it was a terrible scene that i cannot describe to you are lying on the ground like being killed by bug spray. these images never leave my mind. welcome to the day we start here in germany where the number of covered 19 infections is now past the 1000000 mark, japanese disease control agency institute announced the figure only on friday after

recording another 22000 infections overnight. last the contain the spread of the virus during the 1st wave in the spring, but it's been hard hit by the 2nd. another somber milestone for germany as covert 1000 cases in the country passed the 1000000 mark. germany also registered a record daily death toll of 426 higher than any level reached there in the 1st wave in the spring. after almost 4 weeks of a partial lockdown, the country is still not out of the woods. the increase in daily new cases appears to have leveled off for the past few days, but daily new infections haven't dropped significantly. germany's federal health agency, the robert institute also reports some other worrying trends. above all, the growing proportion of coronavirus cases among older age groups and more outbreaks in senior and nursing homes. in light of the situation,

the german government decided this week to extend the partial lockdown until december 20th. people in berlin think it was the right thing to do. i think it's good that we have these measures. the incidence rates are worrying. so i think that what we are doing in the right direction. i think that if we just follow these simple measures where masks keep our distance, don't travel when it's not really necessary then we'll get the situation under control. up to this point, germany has come through the pandemic fairly well compared to most of its neighbors in europe. but with christmas fast approaching, the government is trying to strike a balance between allowing friends and families to get together and containing the

pandemic. some restrictions will be eased over the festive period, but it won't be a big free for all. chancellor angela merkel's chief of staff even warned that restrictions could stay in place until march. ok. now here's chief political correspondent, linda crane with an overview of the situation across the country. we do have new cases per day that are sometimes slightly topping $23000.00. and to put that into perspective, that is more than 3 and a half times the highest numbers that we were seeing back during the spring hearing the 1st wave. so definitely significantly higher numbers. now. partial lockdown measures were put into place here, starting middle of november and we have seen the numbers, plateau and sometimes decrease. since then nonetheless, they are definitely very high in terms of intensive care capacity. we are seeing

a reduction in excess capacity this week. there were about 3600 patients with coated in intensive care. nonetheless, germany is very well equipped with intensive care beds, so we don't yet face a critical shortage. and the other thing to bear in mind is that we do have a lot more people being tested now than we did back last spring. so that daily rate, that i quoted of $6000.00 back then, undoubtedly there were many cases that were not reported at that time. and if we compare mortality rates at the moment, the current mortality rate is not higher than the one during the 1st wave, if anything it is somewhat lower. so it's a serious picture, but it's also a mixed picture at the moment. but of course, the good news is that several potential covered 19 vaccines are but she's very promising results in the billions of doses just before even one of them has been

approved. the 3 research and development groups are fathers to have in trials up by 5, astra zeneca and also university. and so as rich powerful countries by a nearly 10000000000 doses i will, poor countries get on first covert 19 vaccines on the verge of being authorized billions of vaccine doses have already been secured by wealthy countries . this has raised concerns that the jav live right much later and low income countries to avoid that. and then mr. tive was founded. caltex, backed by the w h o. countries representing 2 thirds of the population have jobs. topics goal is to make sure all member states get vaccines forgotten as financial needs. but how does it work on its website?

kovacs explains that strategy. and then the states pooled their efforts and money to support the development of several vaccine candidates, instead of competing against each other. they don't negotiate their pricing together. therefore, keeping prices low. once effect effects scenes of vailable, it says, all participating countries, regattas of income levels will have equal access to these vaccines. for no income countries, it is the only viable way in which their citizens will get access to covert $900.00 axes. the wealthy countries have other options. states like the u.k. and countries of the you have joined the initiative. but they've also made by their true deals with manufacturers on this size. piece by letter agreements have created an imbalance between the different members. critics say, by poor countries, solely dependent on colfax,

wealthier ones used it as an add on to its bilateral deals. and there is more critics argue that these by littrell deals make it harder for kovacs to do its job . because when a big share of jared's is already promised to individual countries, kovacs can only distribute what is left to many hotter countries. not all that scenes will be equally suitable for practical reasons. they are likely to prefer those easier to transport without difficult coaching to maintain. and finally, big countries like the u.s. and russia haven't even joined the initiative. instead of supporting kovacs, they've only invested in the development of their own vaccines. kovacs nevertheless, is sticking to its goal by the end of next year. it wants to have $2000000000.00 doses distributed around the globe. so what needs to happen before these

coronavirus vaccines are rolled out and we all get darst? well. dr. belgium is a senior scholar at johns hopkins center for health security. he specializes in infectious diseases and pandemic policy. welcome to the w. . let's start with the money. let's start with how the vaccines will be paid for and given that the world is crying out for them. does that mean that they'll be super expensive outside this kovacs initiative because of that huge demand? i don't think that's going to be the case. this is a global health emergency. we have many non-governmental organizations, like the bill and melinda gates foundation, like gaby and kovacs. and i think that's all going to have an influence on how this is priced because the whole world is really suffering because of this pandemic. and i do think that the, that the bulk of the incentive is to make this as affordable a vaccine as possible. and there's going to be a lot of funds available to purchase this vaccine. and i think that we likely will

see the world on a, on a slower scale than what's happening in the developing countries get vaccinated within hopefully we will eradicate this virus as of all account threat. ok, well that's very positive that i just want to be clear about what it is that you're saying there. so when i, when you talk about the price that you're talking about, the price that countries a paid, the pharmaceutical companies, all the price which it is passed on to consumers. because pharmaceutical companies, of course, not, no, for their charitable instance. i think it's what we're going to see is probably very little out of pocket cost to the person getting vaccinated. it may be the government strike deals with these non-governmental organizations with this is, you know, and they're stockpiling apparatus. there's going to be ways to get this vaccine into people. i think we've seen, for example, with ebola outbreak that happened, the r.c. back scene was effectively ruled out without real concern regarding the way you think that this is something that will likely happen because of all of these

non-governmental organizations that have a vested interest or a mission to actually get this vaccine into the arms of the world. citizens. ok, that's great. let's talk about certification for kids and get the whole world is looking for they. so does that mean that the whole world each jurisdiction has to certify individually each drug almight some look to be actions of bodies like america's food and drug administration, moving a new medicines agency and then if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us for many, many countries they do rely on what the f.d.a. would be e.m.e.a. and what the united kingdom equivalent actually evaluate a drug or a vaccine. and that's enough. there's also a process called w.h.o. prequalification, where the w.h.o. can also have a regulatory role by looking at the data, looking at what other regulatory agencies and some of the developed countries have done. and then make something prequalified by the w.h.o. standard, which then allows many of these other countries who don't have a robust regulatory regime to be able to administer this. that's likely what will

happen is that you'll see the f.d.a. e.m.e.a. the u.k. version way in a got you, a job will be issued and then they will start to distribute this, this to many countries who don't do their own regulatory evaluation of these products. right. then what are the other extort? i think about this whole process is that billions of doses are paid for and manufactured before they're even approved. that's something that we did this this pandemic deliberately because we knew that we could not wait, that there's a public health emergency and we did not want to wait to scale up. and this was a major financial risk. so for example, united states, we have something called operation work speed when they started to manufacture these vaccines before they've been approved. that so that there was no time wasted as soon as an approval is, is given that this vaccine can ship within 48 hours to people and get into the arms of americans. and i think the same type of apparatus is in place in many other parts of the world because we don't want to wait every day. we wait,

people die. the pin damage takes a toll. so the quicker we can get this vaccine into people, the quicker this pandemic is behind us. i'm thinking about the logistical nightmare of distributing these drugs across not safe countries like india or china that those must be really quite a huge problems. yes, the distribution of this vaccine is going to be one of the hardest challenges public health has ever faced. we never really done anything like this. if you look at the smallpox eradication campaign, even 2901, i think it really pales in comparison to the task ahead of us. especially if some of these vaccines have extreme cold requirements, like the pfizer beyond trackback scene, which need to be kept minus 70 minus 80 centigrade. that's going to be very hard to do in the developing world where they have problems with normal access to electricity. so this is going to be a really herculean task and it's going to take some time for the entire world to be vaccinated. well into 2021, maybe the 202-0004, the world to be kind of rid of this virus as a public health threat. and it's going to take a lot of effort and

a lot of coordination, and we should expect that there's going to be hiccups and in and setbacks as we try to distribute this vaccine to the world population. i was also saying that as we all wait for this, not everyone is going to want to take this vaccine. yes, there is a lot of vaccine hesitancy and there is an anti vaccine movement that's already started to attack this vaccine before it's been approved. there's all kinds of lies about it, putting microchips into your body that have already been circulating. so we're going to be proactive with this vaccine. we're going to have to be transparent about the safety, efficacy the side effect profile, how the clinical trials were done. what we know, what we don't know, what all of that has to be really, really transparent as well as a prioritization because countries are going to prioritize who gets this vaccine 1st, likely health care workers hire an individual. all of that has to be out there and we have to not be on the defensive. when the anti vaccine forces kind of amounts against this vaccine, we have to be very proactive and talk to people about what the value of this vaccine is and hope that we get a high vaccine uptake. because if we don't get this vaccine into people,

this will still be in the same situation that we're in today. we're talking to thank you, dr. from johns hopkins, a center for health security. thank you. the human rights activists are trying to use the courts here in germany to prosecute the perpetrators of 2 chemical weapons attacks against civilians in syria. activists want syrian president bashar al assad and members of his regime to be held accountable for the atrocities committed in 20132017 of president assad denies involvement. opponents say there is enough evidence to bring. i also say that have enough evidence that they syrian regime has carried out more than 200 nerve gas attacks over the last 7 years, despite agreeing to destroy all their chemical weapons back in 2030. all rights groups have now filed a criminal complaint with germany's federal prosecutor,

reporters from d.w. and german used by the same dash to go. i've been given exclusive access to some of the evidence the screams of 3 teams who died in the searing gas attack in ghouta to this day, still echoing in the ears of syrian simone. she wants nothing more than syrian president bashar assad and the perpetrators of the attack to be charged. she and her husband one met our witnesses of a criminal complaint filed in germany by human rights groups. they wish to remain anonymous because they fear for their family's safety. i fear for my mother and my sisters who are still living in syria and the whole because the regime is my dream and unjust and it has no mercy. if it has a conscience, dick wouldn't have done these things. on august 21st, 2013, at least 4 rockets loaded with sarin gas warheads struck rebel held parts of

eastern kentucky. i was more than a 1000 people were killed. many of them children. among them was imminent marmots, eldest son, they too were exposed to serin and were unconscious for days to this day, the syrian regime denies any responsibility for the attack. i would hope that one day i can stand before a judge and tell them what these chemical attack did to us. on the everything came out that it was an arab scene that i cannot describe to you. give people relying on the ground like and being killed by bug spray. these images never leave my mind was convinced that the syrian regime was behind the attack. for years, his organization, the syrian archive, along with 2 other human rights groups, have meticulously analyzed the attack from the suspected launch sites to the

rockets used, therefore, also documented undisclosed chemical weapons facilities, including west air and was hidden after 2013. when you think from your investigation that most probably 450 a network of different entities that are responsible for the coordination. execution of these attacks. the w.'s investigative team, along with german news magazine, der spiegel was given exclusive access to parts of the criminal complaint. it includes testimonies from 50 defectors, with firsthand knowledge of the chemical weapons program, and names suspected perpetrators, such as bashar assad and his younger brother, my hair. we have one witness who described the request for the use of sarin gas, comes mara and is communicated to the presidential powers where

it is approved. we believe it is approved or ordered by the criminal complaint was filed in october with the chief federal prosecutor and council, where what crimes unit has been investigating atrocities in syria for years. federal prosecutors here in germany confirmed to us that a criminal complaint was fired, but they would not comment on its contents. instead, they said they would independently appropriate evidence before deciding whether to open a case against individual suspects. but that can take weeks or even months. a man was traumatized by the events she suffers from depression and needs medication to make it through the day. but the investigation in germany has given her strength and hope that the people responsible for all the suffering will finally be helped to recount more on this from steve cost us, there's

a senior lawyer with the open society justice initiative. you saw him in that reporter sent. that's one of 3 organizations who filed a criminal complaint jervas federal prosecutor joins us from london. welcome to day w. . why bring this prosecution in germany for crimes you believe were committed in syria? thank you for having me. well, as you know, germany has played a leading role in the justice and accountability and the shift with respect to crimes committed in syria. germany has what's called the universal jurisdiction law, which allows it to prosecute crimes committed, extraterritorial outside germany, as long as they are war crimes, crimes against humanity, war and genocide. and because germany has played a leading role, we wanted to bring our case to the prosecutor's office there as part of our legal campaign to to involve

a number of countries in the investigation and prosecution of these crimes. so there's a massive mountains to climb. there is an, even if german prosecutors agree, there is a case to answer. i'm guessing you don't really expect president assad to present himself for prosecution. well, that's right this, we expect that this is the 1st step or an early step in a long road. and our complaint names a number of individuals that we think had a role in the saron attacks the chemical weapon at time x. in 20132017. we do provide some information about the role of president. but we, we leave that to the independent investigation of the prosecutor to determine who is responsible. and in addition, sitting has of state enjoy immunity from prosecution under,

by national law enforcement. and so we wouldn't anticipate an indictment or prosecution of assad while he's a head of state. so given all of us is this, is this more about sending a message or just more symbolic than to me, expecting anybody to read it in the dock? not at all what we think we think, and our clients and our, the syrian groups that we work very closely with on this on this case. think that it's essential for prosecutors to begin investigating these crimes, to secure the evidence, to interview witnesses that we've identified. and to begin building the cases that will lead to prosecutions in the future. we know that this is a long road, but it's essential that we start that process now. and one of the big international courts in the hague. the international criminal court would be

a good option if the security council could refer the situation in syria to that court. but the russia and china have exercised a veto over that referral. and so it's practically impossible to prosecute these crimes there. you complain to testimony from a least 50 defectors from the syrian regime with firsthand knowledge off of chemical weapons program. that how did you get them to trust you? and to talk to you many of the individuals are defectors who are interested in seeing accountability for the, for the use of chemical weapons, and are willing to testify to prosecutors who are conducting investigations. and they saw our investigation as one way of providing their evidence to a prosecutor. i'm so they provide the testimony of things that they

allege were going on in what is effectively a war zone. so how then do you test that evidence? how then do you, do you look at whether or not it's credible we've attempted to verify the evidence that we collected in a number of ways. so we work very closely with the syrian archive which has built an archive of documentation of chemical weapons attacks. and they have meticulously corroborated much of the victim and witness testimony using videos and photographic evidence that they have curated. and it shouldn't that we worked with the syrian center for media and freedom of expression to compile evidence from defectors and from other witnesses. that corroborates the information that we're able to obtain. so do you have lined this massive amount in the you have to climb?

if german prosecutors turn around and say no, there is no case to add, so we don't think we should prosecute. what do you do then? well we think that that it's clear that there is a case to answer we, if we have submitted a pretty large dossier of evidence that i think that they have sent, they will work their way through. and we all, we would hope that we would work with them to bring witnesses to testify. we recognize that with the trial that is underway, that investigations can take a long time, the trial that simcoe plants. and so we would it to spain. this investigation will take a long time. we're also bringing complaints into separate bringing complaints in other countries and we would call on national prosecutors to cooperate and rest occasion of these crimes. well,

thank you for joining us. steve cost us from the open society justice initiative. thank you so much and that was the day as ever i think conversation continues online. you will find us on twitter. odds of the debt

to the point of strong opinions, clear positions. international perspective such donald trump stays in the white house, now appears to be number one. as joe biden begins, spurs and taste government team, we ask you found a way in america can again be a global leader to join us on some point shortly. to the point, of coming up on t.w.,

who's lived in mexico. many foolish old loves us right now on the phone right now. climb a tree in a different office store. the face is mine less leeway from just one week. how much one can really get we still have time to act and i'm going to have subscribed and morning is like the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. how has the rate of infection been developing? measures are being taken? what does the latest research say? information and context the coronavirus of data, the covert special monday to friday on t.w.

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this is day 2 of the new year's line from ballet to iran says one of its top nuclear scientists has been assassinated and blames israel. western governments have long suspected most emphatic president of playing a leading role in the rain. your attempts to develop nuclear weapons. also on the program. french police are peter black music producer as he tries to run the studio . describes it as an unacceptable attack. on germany's coronavirus can start a 1000000. so how bad is the situation in a country one seen as leading the way to europe's fight against the pandemic?

i'm from hello, welcome to the program. iran says one of its leading nuclear scientist has been assassinated. the day has long been suspected by the west and by israel of masterminding, a secret nuclear weapons program. his car was reportedly targeted outside the capital to run. and there's been no claim of responsibility for the country's foreign minister. mohammad saffi 1st tweeted that there were serious indications of an israeli role in the attack. israel has made no comment. we can look at this closely with he's with the german council on foreign relations and an expert on iran. welcome to you, but what do you make of these developments?

didn't it at falls into a period that we see with the us transition going on, which is a very delicate period as it appears. and the outgoing president had to cross the run with maximum pressure strategy. and he has even used about a military strike just the poor. he is due to leave office in january. and so this is a particular moment. israel is alleged to have carried out these attacks, but israel is a close ally of the united states and certainly from an iranian perspective, this will look like a joint enterprise. so how big a blow will this pain just outlined to us the significance of not very far. in fact, a fire is a day nonsense or is it i'd just outline his they his significance for us? yeah. well he's, he's the mastermind behind iran's nuclear program. more precisely behind

iran's attempt to build a nuclear weapon. these were officially halted back in the 2000 spec in 2003, but is suspected to have gone on all the while until the present day. so he is a senior figure from the iranian perspective, and he's hailed only as a scientist, but he's also with the iranian revolutionary guards, which is a military organization. and so it appears that at least for the israelis, they had him as number one on their most wanted list when it comes to iran for the of strays. he was certainly a prime target and it looks like they have achieved or they have aimed at this target now. and so remind us what, what is the current state? so if they are a nuclear deal, well it's barely a life still. it is a hidden thing, i mean, by a thread, if you like,

the united states with drew from it in mid 2018. but all the remaining powers have made sure that it stays in place in power. and so, while iran has also reduced its own commitment, it is gone way beyond the limits when it comes to nuclear fuel, for example, and rich uranium. it has gone beyond these limits, but it still allows inspections. so there is certainty over what is going on. the iranian nuclear installations and it has signaled that it would return to the deal . as soon as the united states 3 enters the deal. this is something that many people hope for could start at the beginning of the year with a new bite at ministration. but events like this one killings like this one certainly make this much more difficult. and so should we expect a raid response that goes beyond tweets?

i think we should expect one. and the iranians have been careful in the past weeks and months not to respond to any provocations it read. it looks like they want to, to keep it quiet until a bright administration takes office. but the more attacks they have to suffer, the regime has to suffer the more it will be pressed also domestically to strike back nuclear scientists. and as i said he is portrayed as one nuclear. scientists are held in high esteem in iran by the population. and they are the sons of the nation, as they are often called, because the nuclear program has the high value nuclear energy, the civilian program has. and i read a reputation inside iran. and so this is not only a matter of the regime, but it's also one of arctic support oil. the public may be calling for a response. so we are looking at an increase in instability in this this region again,

most most probably and definitely the time until the january inauguration in the united states, i'm certain your 20th will be one of relations in particular in that region. ok. good. talking to you. thank you so much for joining us, according to a sad about from the german council on foreign relations. a french president emmanuel mccraw has described the beating of a black music producer by french police officers as an unacceptable attack, and said the big images, shame, france, michelle, was a claire was trying to enter his studio when the incident was caught on camera and comes amid debate about a new bill designed to restrict the filming of police while they're on duty. it is a disturbing video. 3 french police officers beating up a black man for 5 minutes in his own apartment. but the police officers don't know who shells it clearly has a security camera in the lobby of his home. the entire scene was caught on film.

it is sad to say it, but my client was lucky to have a video to report these acts which may be isolated but still happen. otherwise, my client would have been detained when it's his word against the officers. we know very well that it's the words of the officers that carry more weight because he said they would see a pattern that in this really played out. in the case of michelle declared, he was arrested and detained for 48 hours until the security footage showed up the 3. police officers only left the apartment after musicians from the clay studio in the basement, heard the noise and rushed to help. but even then, it wasn't over. another officer threw tear gas into the apartment, forcing the sickly to go outside. the clay needed hospital treatment for his wounds, but the physical violence was part of the assault. and

the bay used the n word a few times. they looked me in the eyes and punched me. this case of police brutality has shocked the country. it's clear the officers also lied about the incident in their report, they claim the music producer attempted to grab their weapons and that he resisted . the interior minister addressed the issue on french television. i have asked for the police officers to be suspended as soon as we have all the facts at the moment the judiciary is investigating. i will order their dismissal. they have put a stain on the uniform of the republic. michelle, the clay file charges against the police officers. now the district attorney is investigating the officers for use of force on duty and false testimony. and let's take a look at some of the stories making headlines at this hour. a federal appeals court has rejected an attempt by u.s. president donald trump's legal team to block president elect joe biden. from being

declared the winner of the pennsylvania count. mr. bines win by more than 80000 votes in the state was certified this week. it's another blow to mr. trump's bit to overturn the results of the presidential election. at least 6 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in the somali capital mogadishu, according to local officials, the attack happened just hours after the acting u.s. defense secretary visited the city to meet the u.s. ambassador, the al qaeda linked extremist group. al-shabaab says it carried out the attack. spain's health minister says the country's population of 47000000 will be vaccinated against coronavirus by the summer. he said the programme would happen in 3 stages, starting in january with the most vulnerable the number of corona virus cases in germany has passed a 1000000. this week the government announced that tougher restrictions would be introduced after a partial lockdown failed to bring the numbers down sufficiently despite positive news about potential vaccines. politicians are warning that still tough times ahead

. another somber milestone for germany as covert 1000 cases in the country passed the 1000000 mark. germany also registered a record daily death toll of 426 higher than any level reached there in the 1st wave in the spring. after almost 4 weeks of a partial lockdown, the country is still not out of the woods. the increase in the new cases appears to have leveled off over the past few days, but it hasn't dropped significantly. germany's federal health agency, the robert institute also reports some other worrying trends. above all, the growing proportion of coronavirus cases among older age groups and more outbreaks in senior and nursing homes. in light of the situation, the german government decided this week to extend the partial lockdown until december 20th. people in berlin think it was the right thing to do.

i think it's good that we have these measures. the incidence rates are worrying. so i think that what we are doing goes in the right direction of india. and i think that if we just follow these simple measures, wear masks, keep our distance, don't travel when it's not really necessary. then we'll get the situation under control. up to this point, germany has come through the pandemic fairly well compared to most of its neighbors in europe. but with christmas fast approaching, the government is trying to strike a balance between allowing friends and families to get together and containing the pandemic. some restrictions will be eased over the festive period, but it won't be a big free for all. chancellor angela merkel's chief of staff even warned that

restrictions could stay in place until march. a kremlin critic, alexei navalny, has called on europe to impose sanctions against russian president vladimir putin's inner circle. speaking to the european parliament foreign affairs committee, mr. and urged the e.u. to redraw its relationship with moscow and to stand up for democracy in russia is currently recovering in germany after an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in august. alexei navalny did not beat around the bush, asking european politicians to take concrete action should parliamentary elections in russia next year. he marred by manipulation. i ask every country to russian forthcoming election in the very simple way. if some people not dissipate the results of such election now volley is in germany, where he was treated in hospital after collapsing on board

a flight to moscow from the siberian city of tomsk last august. laboratory tests subsequently confirmed, he had been poisoned with a novacek nerve agent. the main question that we should ask ourselves, why these people poisoning killing and probably gates in action. and the answer is very simple. my, me. so european union and russian oligarchs will exhibit each the kremlin, has denied any involvement in of on these poisoning. he is only the last in a row of russian quinlan critics who have been gunned down or poisoned in recent years if not the 1st 2. and unfortunately, i will not be the last one who poisoned or killed or treated in this way.

despite surviving the poisoning attempt, the hassles for now of on the may not be over. russian police raided the moscow offices of his anticorruption foundation earlier this month. despite what appears to be a coordinated campaign to intimidate him and other kremlin critics now fall in the intends to return to russia. european countries which have significant economic ties to russia, including a gas pipeline project in the works, will have to decide how to shape their relationships with the kremlin and with its critics in the future. in football form a fee for president sepp blatter and u.a.e. 1st former president michel platini, being investigated for fraud in switzerland. according to media reports swiss prosecutors have been looking into the past, past dealings that fee for the last 5 years. criminal proceedings have been focused on suspected mismanagement, misappropriation, and forgery by apply to me. shot is a link to a payment made to him by faith,

with doctor's approval. both did nothing wrong to use up to date, we'll have more of the talk outright focus on how to show business updates in just a month. why are people forced to hide in trucks? said the, there are many answers to and there are many stories

make up the book made for minds. the biggest shopping day of the year takes place against the product of a global pandemic in the united states. it's a black friday like there's never been before. also coming up 2020 has dealt a devastating blow to the global travel industry. we'll speak to jamaica's tourism minister about how his country house fared and it's a vote that could transform as the definition of corporate responsibility is due to

decide whether businesses should be held liable for a few says commissioner world this is the new business. ferguson, thanks for joining me. it's a day that's come to a peson mind. american capitalism in a typical of year, the day after thanksgiving sees millions of people flocking to the stores in the hope of mapping. the best block friday deals. this year is different. there's a pandemic on and many are staying at home. the spending, though, continues this time online. it's a far cry from the black friday is of years gone by at the mall of america. at the country's largest mall, only a few dozen people were in line friday hoping to snag some steep holiday just counts in previous years, thousands have stormed this entrance. black friday is usually the biggest shopping day of the year in the u.s. retailers, especially department stores like macy's town on the day after thanksgiving to kick off the crucial holiday shopping season. but the coronavirus pandemic is keeping

consumers away from brick and mortar stores this year. even though there are some exceptions. i've always felt ok. i'm going to stay out here and i've been here since 4 pm on wednesday. but most are shopping online this year. amazon and other online retailers have been prepping for months for a booming black friday. yet will work most interesting for our stopping online this year. and sleep a lot. i mean, summer monday, or one of our busiest time fools. that's even more this year. black friday significance to main street retailers was already under threat from the riots and online shopping. now the pin to make his dell yet another blow to this american holiday tradition. let's talk more about this with the business correspondent gets caught in new york. look so many retailers really rely on black friday. will they survive this?

well, i mean, there's a reason why black friday is called black friday. so that's the time of the here. that's the day when, at least in the past for many retailers, they started to write a black numbers, meaning a turning a profit for the year this year around expectations are that overall sales in the retail industry might increase 3 and a half to 5 percent. but brick and mortar is expected to a drop in comparison to last year's season. we've already seen and dozens, hundreds of shops and stores going out of business. and we have to wait and see if that trend continues. so it is clearly a tough time, at least for a brick and mortar in 2020. and all not ends. of course, a lot of people are shopping online instead. is this going to just benefit the big guys like amazon or are smaller operations going to profit as well?

you know what i mean theoretically, and you have the option also for the 3rd party sellers to actually sell your goods via amazon for example. then you have the other big chains that have the infrastructure like target, walmart, best buy, just to name. and if you will also make sure he can sell their stuff online, but for smaller companies, clearly it is quite tricky. but if you look at the recent development, just one figure amazon by now has a market cap of about $1.00 trillion dollars. wal-mart. that is the biggest retailer in the country. the biggest private employer has a market cap of about $438000000000.00. so just to a compare those set by the way, here in the city, and you had some stores where there were more people working in this store than you had customers some, some places on 5th avenue, for example, still boarded up. so clearly the, the big, the big ones amazon in 1st place,

but also others. so to follow, definitely the big winners at the pentagon make and we have to wait and see if that's going to really change. once we can fully reopen the economy, is caught in a very slack in new york. thank you very much. the number of people taking foreign trips has declined by hundreds of millions this year compared to last you to the pun. demick. many ski resorts are operating. i fractured of their capacity and here in europe there's a debate about whether they should be allowed to open at all. elsewhere in the world tourism reliant countries like jamaica are trying to lure visitors back with so-called resilient car doors. and we can talk an attitude to make us tourism minister edmund bartlett. mr. bartlett, welcome to the program. tourism is a hugely important industry in your country. how badly have people's livelihoods been affected by the pandemic? by the, by then, it has literally devastated your tourism. our innings have more than

65 percent for the year. so far. the economy, he said has shrunk and read between 11 and the jobs of also been reduced from 170-0012 or level 50000. so it has been a tremendous impact on her part of me. and it has brought much of the economic activity in jamaica. and so many people's lives are affected there. now we have general poor as a by these so-called resilient car doors. what are they exactly, and how do they work? but there isn't part or is a geographical area between the established there isn't said as of jamaica. and the good news is that oil is said as are on the coastline and the north side of the coach and his boat. it bias in the highway. so all the areas from the great ports and told you that have some of it in the 85 percent awarded.

and the other there is that assets are within that corridor and we've enabled compliance level that is at the highest. and that is where the money surveillance team, which goes through every agency in the air to ensure that every single one of those fully compliant meaning all the socialist i'm seeing and properly labeled there are facing. and all the technical areas that are required to make sure that the facilities are clean, safe, and secure, are replaced the incidences of any kind of infection in the area has been sealed. and the workers fully traded. i've not had any incidence of infections. a reassuring message has been part of the tourism minister of jamaica. thank you very much. now to some of the other

business stories making news. astra zeneca is planning an additional global trial of its covert $1000.00 vaccine. that softer scientists raised doubts but initial results showing the shot to be 90 percent effective in a test. participants mistakenly received a half dose, followed by a full one expert said. problems with the 1st trial could slow down. u.s. and e.u. regulatory approval roams main airport is to offer passengers of delta airlines and alitalia cope with test. passengers flying between rome and some u.s. destinations can get a test 48 hours before departure to avoid the mandatory 14 day quarantine quarantine italy imposes on incoming travelers. in switzerland, voters are going to the polls on sunday to decide whether a business should be held responsible for human rights and environmental abuses that happen abroad, including those commissioned by their suppliers. the outcome of the referendum

could have far reaching consequences for multinationals like nestlé and plan corps . this poster shows a good to peruvian mining by switching rooms, which is accused of poisoning the local community with lead and heavy metals. this is how the swiss popular initiative on responsible business hopes to draw attention to environmental degradation and human suffering. it says is caused by swiss companies or subcontractors overseas. so far these companies have not been held to account n.g.o.s, trade unions and church groups demand change. because most national rame, with this initiative is very simple, we want big companies to respect human rights. we are 113 on governmental organizations that have launched this initiative for a single reason. because we have observed serious human rights violations by companies like glencore, such as forced evictions of peasants water,

polluted with lead in arsenic and child labor. in the swiss steel entrepreneur dietrich pestalozzi supports the initiative, all companies and their suppliers he says, should have to comply with standards abroad. there is clearly a need for action when many companies take their responsibilities overseas seriously. there are also a few who do not care about human rights or the environment, nor are they prepared to change their behavior voluntarily. what's needed then is binding regulation. this risk government however rejects the idea of regulation for them. the initiative goes too far and industry lobby groups say it could jeopardize swiss company's business overseas. if the initiative wins in sunday's referendum, what is illegal in switzerland would also no longer be allowed at their subsidiaries in africa? and finally, the pandemic has seen many people adjusting to new working conditions. santa claus

is of course, no exception with his busiest time of the year coming up the london based ministry of fun has been offering the benevolent benefactor of online training to make sure he is able to communicate with his many fans from a safe distance. it's not turning to sound as usual supermarkets and store bookings, which are down around 85 percent this year due to the we can't rely on the outs for everything. that's it for me. thanks much for

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for those most successful radio drama series continues this season, the stories focus on hate speech prevention and sustainable charcoal production. all of a sow's are available online. and of course, you can share and discuss on africa's facebook page and other social media platforms and fighters to news. now my 1st boss, like moses sewing machine, where i come from, women, their bones by their social influence. even something as simple as learning how to write them by psychosis. and since i was a little girl, i wanted to have both eyes. i'd lost my home and it took me years to them. but there's finally they gave up and went on buying young by psychos, but returned because sewing machines, sewing, i suppose, was more appropriate for girls than writing advice. as no,

i wanted to reach out to those women back home who are bones by their duties and social rules, and informed of old the basic rights. my name is the about of people who and i work at z. to this is news africa on the program. today countries are racing to secure doses of the covert 19 vaccine. but both health officials say africa is not brady logistically to rollout, but will be it's not just if the immunization drives and we meet a family from ethiopia's to gripe region. not only have they been displaced and left traumatized from the ongoing conflicts. they're also still trying to make sense of why one of their own was bludgeoned to death in an early november massacre .