this is g w news winds from berlin tonight the 1.8 trillion euro budget for the european union that gets the go ahead poland and hungary have been blocking passage of the budget that now appears to be history the new spending plan also includes billions in coronavirus relief funds also coming up deadlier than ever germany sets a new record for daily coronavirus cases the head of germany's disease control agency raises the alarm is coded 1000 continues to spread despite a nationwide partial walk down and u.s.

regulators are meeting to consider emergency approval for the buy on take funds or vaccine against the coronavirus as the country sees more than 3000 deaths in a single day plus what goes up must come down to space x. prototype star ship made it miles up into the air but the landing well it didn't go quite as well. to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and to all of you around the world welcome we begin tonight with a budget breakthrough european leaders in brussels say that they have come to an agreement on the e.u.'s 1.8 trillion. which includes hundreds of billions in coronavirus relief funds member states poland and hungary have blocked approval of the budget over plans to tie the money to conditions requiring respect for the rule

of law all but a compromise brokered by germany which currently holds the e.u. presidency that helped to end the deadlock. after a tense few weeks the jovial atmosphere at today's e.u. summit suggested e.u. leaders knew what was to come. all eyes were on these 2 men the prime ministers of poland and hungary had threatened to veto the entire you budget over plans to link funds to rule of law conditions today we feared that we might be. attacked in an unjustified way we are fighting for the victory of the. of the common sense both felt a lot was at stake and for the e.u. 1.8 trillion euros roughly one trillion for the next 7 year budget and they 750000000000 euro rescue funds to help breathe life into the e.u.'s virus had to qana me. but just in time for dinner

a compromise table by german chancellor angela merkel seemed to do the trick council president china shell announced on twitter that all 27 even members states had reached a landmark agreement the deal was done. but not without controversy the changes could see rule of law proceedings delayed by years and bitter organs case until after the next election but it seems this was a concession that had to be made to him block desperately needed funds before christmas. all right let's bring in our correspondent as he is standing by in brussels force good evening to you georg so we've got a deal on this budget's what led to the breakthrough. well 2 things are at the heart of this compromise that has now been found 1st of all hungary and poland can now seek legal certainty at the european court of justice that this if you want rule of law contingency amend mechanism is really legal and secondly they will

get a legal declaration from council member states overall 27 saying that this will objectively be applied once the mechanism is in place so if you want a little bit of a political fight sure it's coming but it's coming to late and once it's there these days the member states that are affected can appeal at the european court of justice but what is essential for member states and member body make that clear tonight is the text itself so the true that the new tool in the toolbox of the european council has not been touched that remains fully in place yet and it also means that the problems that the european union has with hungary in poland those problems have not gone away as he does this mean the budget mean that the coronavirus relief funds are they ready to go where they are needed modes to italy and spain for example. that's right these are the criteria that money is

destined to go to countries that have been hardest hit by the corona crisis and that is among them italy and spain it is mainly the ground's outfit grounds. for some of the smaller part loads but in order to get that money there is a conditionality member states want to unlock that money from this fund and need to come up with a plan how they want to use that money and need to indicate how they want to reform their economies as well. and there is of course another unresolved issue and that is the post breaks a tree deal georg british prime minister boris johnson he met with the e.u. commission president ursula from the lion to discuss the issue on wednesday take a listen to how he described their meeting. it was put to me that this was kind of a bit like tweens and k.'s one twin the e.u. is another and if the e.u. decides to have a half cut then the u.k. has got to have a haircut or else face punishment of the e.u.

decides to buy an expensive handbag the. buy the expensive happens in the u.k. has to buy expensive hand back 2 or else face terrorists and clearly that's not a sensible way to proceed unlike any other free trade deal aren't careless get beyond the handbags here talking to the issues that are standing in the way you've betrayed you. well as. we can say a little bit with the handbags because that is the main sticking issue apart from fish which remains a problem because a lot of french and dutch fishermen are fishing in british waters but then again britain is selling most of their fish 70 even more percent to the u. market so that is one of the sticking points but the key sticking point is a level playing field a technical term for if you want handbags or whatever an item that is produced in a country insulter the other country and what the e.u. is saying is we need to have some some standards that we can agree on if you want

to import your products with 0 terrorists and 0 barriers they need to apply to standards otherwise you can dump. cheaply produced products onto our market and that would destroy the internal market in the us be very clear that is a red line they will not cross and that's a sensible point they have there and the british prime minister said this evening georg that there is a strong possibility that these trade talks will collapse is the european union prepared for their. that's what michele dunne you also said yesterday that the likelihood is now bigger that there will be a no deal rather than a deal that you has always been seeking that deal and they've made some compromises but they've also made contingency have been announced contingency measures and these include all kinds of measures that will smooth that cliff that we're facing now on the conditionality that the u.k.

does the same thing so for instance they would allow british fisherman to enter the european vaults us and vice was they would allow british outlines to cross e.u. territory if european airplanes can cross british territory but only for half a year what this will not do is avoid the chaos we're expecting for instance regarding supply chains and transport from the u.k. to europe and vice versa all right our very own dear mountains in brussels tonight with the latest on the double d. of our day the budget and brakes thank you a female television news anchor has been shot dead in eastern afghanistan. i want was killed along with her driver as she travelled to work in jalalabad it's the latest in a series of attacks targeting journalists activists and politicians. who are. prayers for a heroine hundreds came out to pay their respects to journalist mona my wand and

her driver killed in an apparent assassination. but for many young women in afghanistan my one was margaret in life a t.v. anchor in a country where 2 thirds of girls are barred from attending school. my one was also an advocate for women's rights and continued to speak out even after her own mother was killed for doing the same. then early thursday morning in this street she and her driver were ambushed by unknown gunmen. who were. my wand was a brave female journalist and here she was working for any local t.v. . unfortunately and today she was murdered by the enemies. not only her family but all the women of our province are sad for.

the perpetrators of the killings remain unknown but the militant group islamic state has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks on civilians in afghanistan as the u.s. draws down troops there and conservative militant groups resurge many worry that a life like my ones once again be impossible. well here's a look now at some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has welcomed morocco's decision to normalize relations in a deal brokered by the us president donald trump broke the news on twitter calling it an historic breakthrough under the deal the u.s. will recognize morocco's claim over the disputed western sahara morocco is the 4th arab nation to recognize israel in recent months lebanon's prime minister hasan the has been charged with negligence over the beirut port explosion that killed more than 200 people in august 3 former cabinet members were also charged diaz says that

his conscience is clear the blast was caused by explosive material that had been stored illegally at the port for you. here in germany deaths from the coronavirus have passed the 20000 mark weeks of a partial walk down have not done enough to bring infection numbers down transfer until america has already made a passionate plea for people to cut down on socialising and germany's top scientists are warning that the country will have to introduce tougher restrictions if people do not reduce their social contacts voluntarily. german scientists are once again sounding the alarm despite the partial lockdown coronavirus cases are rising again and deaths are soaring to record highs. in country the infection activity we are currently seeing can quickly rise back into the exponential face again if you extra cases could be enough to spark that.

and ladies and gentlemen this we must avoid the virus has spread widely across the population. germans are being told to drop their christmas travel plans for now shops are still open and some stand selling mulled wine have sprung up across many cities. to lower poll diena germany's academic advisory panel to the government says this has to stop it has called for schools to go on their winter break early and for all non-essential shops to close now a full nationwide lockdown is looming in parliament on tuesday chancellor merkel made a passionate plea for all states to take immediate action. so how does how does deceive i know how much love gets poured into those christmas stands and i'm sorry from the bottom of my heart but if we have to pay the price of $590.00 people dying every

day that's just not acceptable in my eyes and we must take x. and accept that they are just getting this is. the question seems to be whether germany's 16 states will impose more restrictions before all right after christmas by the way people are prepared for a different holiday season this year. live decided not to visit my grandparents sign i think it's better to make an effort to keep them safe. and it's not about how it feels it feels terrible for everyone but we have to get this under control somehow. daughter will only come for a short period of time we have to accept that i hope this will not be my last christmas with my enough. i think i'll go back 3 but i will not feed them maybe. or maybe just. in the same room that's really hard you know or being really close

some german states of already introduced their own tougher restrictions it remains unclear where the miracle will try to get all 16 states to commit to more nationwide measures before christmas but whether each state will continue to go its own way. our correspondents i'm young he is standing by with the latest tonight here in berlin the question that arises we have to see that report is is germany losing the fight against 19 especially when we're talking about the most vulnerable group the elderly. well behavioral picture is very alarming the robert cock institute which is germany's main public health institute says the whole picture is really worrying there's a a warning that we could be returning to exponential growth in infections in germany as you said a new record number of new infections today over 20000 and you know that

what we see is a more complicated picture i think than in the spring when you had sort of localized hotspots of infection now we're seeing a coronavirus cases pretty much across the whole country it's much more difficult to respond to that and you know that the experts are worried that the situation could change and they're also worried because of the high number of deaths we're seeing a record number of deaths now and we're seeing that in care homes in old people's homes the number of infections is twice as high as it was back in the spring and of course older people tend to have serious most serious symptoms and are more likely to die as a result of curve at 90 and we know the plan has been or had been to ease the walked over christmas into the new year that is being hotly debated i mean are those planes definitely off the table now. well there's still the ambition to have some kind of easing over christmas but at the same time what's not happening what

the experts are saying is that the the contacts are not reducing as much is they need to do in order for the infection numbers to come down and here been looking very closely for the united states what happened over the thanksgiving weekend there which seems to have led to a significant spike in infections they want to avoid anything like that as a result of the christmas festivities here in germany so that's why the robert cock institute and others a saying is really calling to forward to have a significant easing of restrictions even over christmas. i mean young with the latest tonight simon thank you u.s. authorities are expected today to authorize the country's 1st coronavirus vaccine the food and drug administration advisory panel is meeting to scrutinize the data

from the buying on tech pfizer vaccine is the same one that was rolled out in the u.k. on tuesday many in the u.s. are hoping for emergency authorization as cases so the f.d.a. panel will also consider 2 reports of allergic reactions to the vaccine in the u.k. this week. to bring in professor jennifer horney she's the founding director of the epidemiology program at the university of delaware she is also a us expert in novel and emerging diseases it's good to see you again we know that the f.t.v. expected to approve this buy on tech pfizer vaccine hell big of a turning point will this be for the u.s. . well this is a very important news but i think that to many on the they can really believing that this is going to end the pandemic so while the safety and efficacy of the vaccine the very good the supply and distribution is going to be

a challenge as well as the to be vaccinated among groups is in your assessment how long will it take for the pandemic to be under control if we do have vaccinations beginning how long until we reach something close to herd immunity i think very few in the public health and health care community believe there is any potential for us to vaccinate everyone by june 2021 like many of initiation are saying we have simultaneously develop the vaccine and the manufacturing capacity so we have not yet invested in the type of logistics and the sharp sure that we need for a vaccination campaign so here in the us that our health care system we have tens of thousands of sites where the vaccine will be administered and frankly our health care and public health workforce is completely burned out. and i have to ask you what we saw in the u.k. this week that at the hospitals where the vaccine is being administered there were

pharmacy is there who had to actually mix the ingredients in this new vaccine do you have people able to do that in the u.s. at the pharmacies for example at walgreens and c.v.s. do they have the qualified personnel to do this. we do but it's going to make it harder for a and a base of people who can provide the vaccine so we might be able to train. in everyone's nursing students to provide a vaccine the limitations in terms of storage and delivery are going to make it more difficult and again in the 6 train the additional. jennifer you know you have dealt with many outbreaks of the new and reemerging diseases there was the influenza a h one n one which is known as swine flu i mean when you consider what we have learned in the past year about the corona virus how does this pandemic compare

so i said this and i like a perfect storm for us here in the u.s. we have a novel virus transmissible and sadly even by asymptomatic people we have a fractured federer on that has large segment of our population highly vulnerable and we've taken this isolationist stance that we forget and that we could deal with this quality drawing from the. other international groups so i think we're in a very going into christmas this year all right professor jennifer worried jennifer we appreciate your time and your insights tonight thank you. well the pandemic has hit all economies and around the world it's the poor who have borne the brunt of the financial pain but in indonesia one man who doesn't make much money himself has set an example for community service in this difficult year . by day. the works alone paid job an

office cleaning and sits in the coffee. but at night there's no wrist he's out on the streets helping the homeless in jakarta. the coded 19 pandemic has been hard on the city's poor marzuki spends a quarter of his own meager income buying food to give to others. because of the pandemic many people think only of themselves they're worried that their salary will be reduced or about losing their job. there are many people who have lost their jobs sharing food with others is my way of showing i'm fed up with it because i'm healthy and have a job and a salary. 2

years ago a story with his 1st paycheck and he started using it to cook food for the pool. now during the pandemic he works even harder preparing simple meals to feed people in need. a long time ago when my parents were sick i went to a relative to borrow money. and he said but you were poor. how were you going to pay back that money and. it was then he decided to pay the good deed forward. together with a group of friends now prepares dozens of meal boxes every day.

candy. sat at the i'm not afraid of not having enough money or god has promised that when we share what we have he'll give a small. and he's friends make sure to follow all pandemic precautions when they hand out their meals. lately they've seen an increase in donations as the word spreads about to causes good samaritans. well here's a look now at some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world the head of the world food program has received the nobel peace prize on behalf of the u.n. agency he described the award as a call to action with 270000000 people worldwide at risk of starvation he said failure to address their needs could cause a hunger pandemic that would dwarf the impact of covert 19. iser by

john have staged a military parade to mark its recent victory over armenia in their conflict over the disputed nuclear region turkish president or one joined the celebrations after backing iser by john in the 6 weeks more turkish made hardware was credited with giving eyes or by john the upper hand in the events. in the united states regulators and prosecutors from almost every state have filed an anti-trust lawsuit against facebook they allege that the company used its dominant position to crush or buying smaller rivals now the wall suit would force the company to divest its major acquisitions of instagram and whatsapp the legal action follows a similar suit against google and it comes amid growing bipartisan calls in the u.s. for more oversight of big tech. 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 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 the engineers well they still have a few kinks to work take a look. to. a picture perfect start for a starship no break the rocket is the most ambitious space x. test yet in the company's auditions quest to make human travel to man's possible. it climbed for several kilometers before leveling off its 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. despite this dramatic finale the test is considered a success by space x.

become pany believes the data collected will help to develop a space ship capable of carrying both crew and cargo to the moon mars and beyond. space x. found a long musk with enthusiastic tweeting mas here we come. there will be more tests soon here in the texan desert construction of stock ship number 9 is almost complete. welchers short break i'll be back to take you through the days to ground we will be right back. in.

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 coligny special monday to friday on g.w. . in the far north. beyond the inhabitable world. it's lonely. barren. and breathtakingly beautiful the arctic a powerful expanse of bitter cold. cold and the sound of global warming. we take a journey around the north pole meet profiteers and talk with people experiencing a changing environment the ice disappears earlier and it keeps retreating case shish the last years have been smelling rough. makes it hard.

our future depends on what happens here in one of the most fragile ecosystems on earth. northern lights place within the arctic circle starts december 21st on w. . the coronavirus is ravaging the united states just last week the daily death toll from covert 19 hit a record high of more than 2800 yesterday a new record more than 3000 and remember the thanksgiving holiday it was 2 weeks ago today the surge from that super spreader event is only now beginning the hospitals are already flooded with coated patients testing the o.-s. to city of america's health care system like never before how much more before it snaps i'm burned off in berlin this.