you agree how worried are these numbers. these numbers are absolutely alarming i mean we see these numbers in the states and weeks in germany so while the lockdown light was able to flip in the curve the numbers don't go down the health care system is on its limits we seeing these numbers not really being affected by anything we do right now so we definitely have to acknowledge these numbers are absolutely alarming and we see the virus spreading very widely among the elderly as well to be yes why is that why is there such a spread in this part of the population i think there's a very diffuse situation in germany also including now the elderly holds including the nurses homes and other institutions so this is really alarming so not just the number of but also the age group that is affected right now. you mentioned lockdown like there has been some frustration with a leading lawmakers here for taking this kind of piecemeal approach revisiting measures regularly and also not deciding to go with

a tougher lockdown do you think that was a mistake. i think it was a mistake at the beginning because we tried really to flatten the curve and then to hope that the numbers will go down so we flatten the curve that's happened but then the numbers didn't go down and we know this since week so we should have acted now and really increased the measures and we definitely have to do it now and not wait until after christmas this will be too late because the number of infections i mean that in 2 or 3 weeks we see the hospital again being filled with new patients and the i.c.u. been filled with new patients so we have to act now because the health care system is on its limits you say we have to act now what exactly should be done what do you recommend. i recommend to conduct a hard lockdowns really close down as much as possible recommend that people stay home over the christmas holidays otherwise we see the same thing as with thanksgiving in the united states with the peak about 2 weeks after thanksgiving that the numbers will increase we cannot afford it and the numbers go up again or

that we have another exponential rate of the numbers. there is has a fancy of course to lock down over christmas because it is such an important holiday for so many people to spend time with their family so what is your message to people to germans in particular why it is important to go into lockdown right now i very much understand that people would like to see families of the same is true for me i would love to see my family but it's just not possible this year so i really recommend people stay home and doing as much online as possible and to limit travel this not just seeing the family but also traveling across germany which will be an issue because of the broad spread of the brought infections it away from right now and i'm going. to be escorted director of the institute of public health here in berlin thank you so much for sharing your insights with us thanks for having me. and with this number still very high when out onto the streets of berlin to find out what kind of holiday celebrations people are planning this year. i

think i'd go back to italy but i would not be damn i need. or maybe just being in the same room not really you know or being with you know the money because they have to started not to visit my grandparents i think it's better to make an effort to keep them safe should. not that it's not about how it feels it feels terrible for everyone we have to get this under control somehow. my daughter will only come for a short period of time we have to accept that i hope this won't be my last christmas . when we had to buy enough of this. let's check in now on some of the other developments in the pandemic u.n. secretary general antonio has warned rich countries against prioritizing their domestic vaccine needs at the expense of others he's appealed for 4200000000 dollars to help get vaccines to the world's poorest people canada has become the

3rd nation to approve the biotech pfizer vaccine the country plans to start administer in the shots next week and australian scientists say they have developed the rapid geo noam sequencing method that would help to rapidly contain future outbreaks they say it would cut the time taken to trace the source of cases from 24 hours to within 4 hours. and italy months of isolating to avoid the corona virus have taken their toll on the nation's most vulnerable for some elderly a tally ans loneliness brings more fear than covert 19 in the italian city of genoa many senior citizens are turning to charities for help me now part de lay is $94.00 she is a former partisan who fought in the italian resistance during the 2nd world war. today she's being kept company by her anna a volunteer for a community initiative aimed at helping elderly people feel less isolated amidst

the coronavirus restrictions mean a rarely sees her family who fear they might infect her. top of the when i call giorgio my son he mediately and says he is worried about something happening to me but i'm on my own he works they're busy they have no time and i try to disturb them as little as i can. it's been a solitary year. volunteers engine noah assist almost 2000 elderly across the city. mario piano is 80 and is volunteer ing for the 1st time. almost a 3rd of the city's residents are over 65 so it's no surprise that the elderly here are not just those who need help but also those who provide it today's as it is to

retired seaman. more broadly. there is a lot of worry and sadness. especially for those on their own. living alone is not easy. for. the piano says he hopes to visit more often since he's old who restrictions prevented him from coming for a while. before i can live with many of those i've been speaking to over the phone lately burst into tears because they can't leave the highs they used to at least have the chance to chat with the shopkeeper now they're completely alone. he leaves hoping that this small connection will lessen the pain of social isolation. let's get

a round of now of some other stories making news around the world azerbaijan has staged a military parade to markets recent victory over armenia in their conflict over the disputed nagorno-karabakh region turkish president to one joined the celebrations after back in azerbaijan in the 6 weeks before turkish made hardware was credited with giving a surprise on the upper hand in the offensive. a female television news anchor has been shot dead in eastern afghanistan malala was killed along with her driver as she travelled to work in jalalabad she was also an activist who spoke out on women and children's rights it is the latest in a series of attacks targeting journalists activists and politicians. authorities in barcelona say at least 3 people have died in a fire at an abandoned warehouse occupied by homeless migrants witnesses said more than 150 people may have been sleeping inside the building when the blaze broke out

the cause of the fire is unclear and authorities are still struggling to identify the victims it's. a 2 day european union summit is getting underway where a dispute over the use budget and coronavirus relief fund appears to be over the leaders have been arriving in brussels to discuss the compromise proposal after poland and hungary had blocked the passage of the nearly 2 trillion euro package over a clause linking funding to respect for the rule of law brussels accuses both governments of rolling back democratic freedoms but seasoned a crisis manager apparently stepped in to find a compromise that was them against the rest of the. polish prime minister most people smoke obviously and his home garion counterpart victor or beyond. both opposed to clause linking the release of e.u. funds to the rule of law and we made bush one yeah we say arrest sounding really

bad to all the mechanisms that punish us just like naughty children which treaty hold another member states of european union with an equally and that really struck us here when you were a very fair. a power move that put a lot at stake specifically the carefully crafted 1.8 trillion europe package on the blocks future fine insists that includes a trillion euro e.u. budget for the next 70 years and a 750000000000 euro rescue fund to boost ailing european economies something vital for member states hit hardest by the pandemic like italy. hungary and poland have repeatedly been called out for rolling back democratic freedoms that had vowed to veto the entire budget and a crucial test for the e.u. to do what we must be determined very vigilant very committed but now it looks like a last ditch attempt by the german chancellor to resolve the issue has succeeded just in time for the new budget to kick in from next year with the current of our

spending make far from over. our brussels bureau chief aleksandra phenomenon is covering the e.u. summit for us he joins us from our high aleksandra so why are hungary and poland so opposed to dismiss us and that links the e.u. funds to the rule of law. hungry in poland argued that this mechanism could be used for political reasons that it was just a pretext to force them to bow to demand such as legalizing gay marriage or accepting my gran's that's of course not the case here because the purpose of the mechanism is to make sure that the e.u. funds are not going to be misused but those countries were of course the word of the fact that they have been under investigation for backsliding on democratic standards the rule of law and fundamental rights so they could be in trouble when this mechanism is in place however they also seemed to have realized that they

could not hold their veto threat for ever today both countries their prime minister said that they are ok with the solution with the compromise on even said that this is a victory of common sense tell us more about this compromise will it work well germany's certainly hoping that it will work and that all leaders will approve this compromise german chancellor angela merkel said today upon her arrival at the summit that she personally had to work very hard intensively to make this compromise possible and that there would be important and important signal for the european union front and center of this compromise system promised that the mechanism would not go into action before the european court of justice has ruled on its legality and that's of course

a concession to hungry and poland it could delay the whole mechanism but it seems that there are no significant changes in substance and that is of course very important important here to say the mechanism could be delayed to take us through what happens next will it be implemented eventually. it will be implemented if all you leaders will approve this compromise it will be delayed maybe by one year but i think what's important here is that eventually the european union the will have for the very 1st time a mechanism of the rule of law linked to e.u. funding and that's why we're hearing from many politicians in the parliament that this is a victory and that poland and hungary have lost our bureau brussels bureau chief alexander reporting thank you. now britain and the e.u. have given themselves on toll sunday to decide if their brakes of negotiations are

worth continuing a 3 hour dinner on wednesday seen as a last ditch attempt failed to bring the 2 sides any closer to a trade deal the british prime minister travelled to brussels after an earlier phone call between him and the e.u. chief fail to break the deadlock disagreements over fishing rights business competition rules and policing are keeping the parties from hashing out a deal that breaks that transition period expires on december 31st. on wednesday boris johnson told the british parliament she thinks there was quote a good deal still there to be done however he went on to say that he would not accept any agreement at any cost. i must tell the house that our friends are currently our crews in the e.u. are currently insisting that if they put a new rule in the future. with which we in this country you don't comply with don't follow suit then they won't be automatic right mr speaker to to punish us and to

retaliate and secondly they're saying that the u.k. should be the only country in the world not to have control over its use and i don't believe it's because of those it terms that any prime minister of this country should. you're watching news still to come on our show a space x. rocket test launch in texas has ended with a spectacular crash land taken but the u.s. company still considers the project a success. that's coming up in a moment but 1st let's get some more headlines from around the world gone as electoral commission says president nunna has won a 2nd term in office officials say he won over 51 percent of the vote putting ahead of his predecessor and rival john muhammad the results follow a contentious poll which led to widespread protests and violence. u.s.

president elect joe biden has nominated retired army general lloyd austin to be his defense secretary if confirmed he would be the 1st african-american to lead the pentagon but he faces resistance from some democrats who have a preference for civilian control of the military. meanwhile the president elect's son hunter by has confirmed his tax affairs are under federal investigation president donald trump has often accused hunter biden of corrupt dealings in ukraine trumps early pursuit of those allegations resulted in his own impeachment after pressure the ukrainian president to investigate a 100 bidens work in the country. also in the u.s. regulators and top prosecutors and 46 states have filed and antitrust lawsuit against facebook alleging that the company used its dominant position to crush or buy smaller competitors the suit forced the company to divest its major

acquisitions instagram and whatsapp the legal action follows a similar suit against google and comes amid growing bipartisan calls in the u.s. for more oversight of big tech companies. facebook's growing dominance has long been a phone in the side of the u.s. government now citing breaches of antitrust law washington wants the company to be forced to sell off instagram and whatsapp by using its vast troves of data and money. facebook has squashed or hindered what the company perceived as potential threats they reduce choices for consumers they stifled innovation and they degraded privacy protections for millions of americans facebook acquired photo sharing platform instagram in 2012 unpurchased messaging service whatsapp in 2014 both are now technically so closely linked to facebook that divesting would

pose some serious challenges. steven beardsley from business is looking into the story for us hi stephen this definitely is not the 1st legal action that facebook is facing and yet at the same time it's being seen seen as very significant why is that what's different here well for sure facebook has face of course regulatory actions from the u.s. and from europe oftentimes for data security that was one of the biggest issues with the cambridge analytic scandal from recent years. it's never faced an antitrust lawsuit and this is serious as that piece mentioned this affects the wholeness of facebook release challenges the whole most of facebook analysts believe that whatsapp is worth about one 5th of the total market value of facebook it's really become a driver of growth now when you combine that with the network effects of what's app as well facebook is using all 3 of its platforms basically to talk to one another and to consolidate data that way and that makes all of its other future endeavors such as a crypto currency which is in the plans it makes that possible so to break that up

is not only a problem financially for them it's a problem in terms of the larger schemes of what they want to do but that dominance has been in place for some time now so why did regulators decide to intervene now at this point is exactly right that's going to be facebook's defense going forward f.t.c. which is the federal regulators in the u.s. they had their chance in 2012 with instagram in 2014 with the acquisition of what's app to say no we're not doing this but instead they went forward now in their defense tech changes fast and no one knew back then what was going on remember that facebook bought instagram for $1000000000.00 and that at the time was seen as too much instagram had 13 employees so you know facebook then was also facing more competition from the likes of twitter which had also been it for instagram and google plus it just come out so in facebook's defense they can say look we were facing competition however in basically in defense of prosecutors right now are for what helps prosecutors case is what they include the complaints and they say they have e-mails from zuckerberg they have internal documents basically saying that you

know that facebook's decision was better to buy than to compete and zucker zuckerberg themselves. in one e-mail to his c.f.o. some of these technologies from instagram we can build into our own property but it will take longer it's better to buy time by buying instagram than to try to build it ourself there you go well the biggest story here is that big tech is facing increasing scrutiny not just in the u.s. but as you said also in europe what does that mean for the what means they're not as pure as they once were seen as being a member of the arab spring and how it was seen as social media really was this cause when you can unite both the right and left in the us against you then you really know they are doing something wrong so increasingly these are being seen as something more like public utilities people need them consumers can't stop using them even though they may know that they don't agree with all the policies they don't agree with the the data usage but they can't stop using them so our regulators going to step in and say we will help here and that's what they're facing and you know big tech companies have tried to address this before and they tried to get ahead of regulators but they haven't been able to the question is is

this going to work in microsoft in the u.s. government went head to head for about 3 years before there was a settlement that didn't quite address the concerns of the u.s. government so facebook is no no small company here they're really going to bring everything to this fight stephen beardsley from business thank you so much thank you now a space x. test launch on wednesday completed the highest and most elaborate flight yet for its prototype starship rocket the spacecraft nearly reached its goal altitude of 12 kilometers but engineers still have a few kinks to work out before their planned mission to mars and back. a picture perfect starred for starship number 8 the rocket is the most ambitious space x. test yet in the company's audacious quest to make human travel to mars possible. and climb for several kilometers before leveling off its slick stainless steel hull

glinting in the sun. after 4 minutes and 45 seconds of flight the starship switched off its engines and began its descent. but just as a flawless journey seemed within reach the ship was engulfed in a ball of flames. and. despite this dramatic finale the test is considered a success by space x. the company believes that the data collected will help to develop a spaceship capable of reaching deep into the universe space x. founder even musk was enthusiastic tweeting mars here we come. there will be more tests soon here in the texan desert construction of starship number 9 is almost complete. paolo rossi the star of italy's successful 982 world cup campaign has died at the age of

64 the former you ventas and ac milan striker who later became a t.v. pundit won the golden ball and golden boot in 1982 rossi also won 2 city titles one european cup and the cup italia but he will be remembered most for his time with italy he scored 6 goals to lead italy to world cup victory 38 years ago his family did not disclose the cause of death but it has been reported that rossi died of an incurable disease it's. well madrid have avoided a scare at qualified for the champions league last 16 their record 13 time winners be person mentioned glad to nail despite the defeat clawed back also reach the knockout stages for the 1st time since the 1970 s. karim benzema scored the opener early on to settle rails nerves and the french striker netted the 2nd before half time defeat would have knocked out the knock the spanish giants out in the group stage for the 1st time. it's

a here and match officials have made a major statement against racism they all took a need before the restart of their suspended match the game was halted a day earlier after allegations that a match official used a racial slur a new referee team was in place p.s.g. won 51 thanks to neymar have trick they go through as group winners beat i.x. to book their last 16 spot and athletico madrid also progressed byron munich were already through but stayed undefeated with a 2 no when over lokomotiv moscow. let's get a reminder now of our top story on d w the head of germany's public health. institute has said the country's coronavirus infection rate has taken a worrying turn he urged tighter controls to prevent another exponential rise germany deli case count has hit a new record high of more than 23000. coming up next on news asia indonesia has received its 1st shipment of a chinese coated vaccine we take

a look at how it compares to other jobs developed in the west and off the job and onto the pitch we'll catch up with these domestic workers in hong kong making their mark in the cricket world. all the channels are coming up on good at the news asia don't go away.

what secrets lie behind. discover new adventures in 360 degree. to explore. world heritage sites. p.w. world heritage 368 get kidnapped now. the fight against the corona virus 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 coalition special monday to friday on t.w. . early. oh the morning. i can't sleep the prose you know or the news i'm. in the swallow smolder. who knows lol good rose. is no use in the lol good for the wicked. does

a real world give a burglar. a good smooth. earth couldn't sleep. currents. you're watching news asia coming up today made in china vaccines have shipped to indonesia and soon to many other countries we take a look at how they stack up against the other vaccines developed in the west. plus we'll follow a young man who uses his own meager income to feed the even less fortunate in jakarta. and off the job.