be extended and schools could return to distance learning. i believe these 2 and a half 3 weeks will give us plenty of opportunities regarding disease control. state leaders are now hoping to set out a coworker needed plan in a meeting with chancellor angela merkel. if you get a moment of fun also if you miss the gathering looks likely to take place on sunday . we are very interested in getting together as quickly as possible in order to rapidly gain clarity about the path our country will follow you through the open door at one point take it in light of recent developments religious services over the holidays are also being scrutinized. then i would if there is a possibility of a religious gathering endangering lives i'll be the 1st to call things off. the so-called most wonderful time of the year now marked by deep concerns

a new lockdown in germany isn't a matter of if but rather when and i'm now joined by her dr dunston sees an intensive care doctor and a member of the german association of critical care and emergency medicine doctor what's the situation in german hospitals and particularly in intensive care units right now. state hillary the burden is very high and the pressure is very high about not just. starting this week for weeks we are working on a very big pressure in some areas the pressure is so big that people are getting sick over this the psychological and the physical stress fall they have to work it is immense they stand up against. to end. this inevitable situation but we fear that the strength of these people is

getting. in the next few days so we stated this morning that we want the government and all the governments in germany the 16 states to get to a locked on much harder than it was trying knowns early in november this is the only way to slow down the highway infection rates and to stop the rising numbers of infected covered 9000 people on the i.c.u. was all over germany but give us an idea how far away from capacity are we in the i.c.u. . we have areas where the capacity is just left 5 to 10 percent open beds that's not enough to cover the broad range of severely patients you must imagine we have in some areas like burning up to say 26 percent cope with 90 patients in other areas like before panos let me caution 0

percent so we have a broad range and this is the only hope we have at the moment that the other guys use in place because the before on in countries of germany which have open beds will help. other hospitals which don't have any beds anymore so in north rhine-westphalia the situation is in some areas quite critical that we at the moment we get to the point we help all people but if it last it won't work anymore. well the infection rate among the elderly the over eighty's is particularly high why is that and what does that mean for hospitals. yes it seems that the virus os calls to spread again into the old population and this is that is the fact these people live at home they leave an old people's home and somebody has to bring the virus in these old people's home and this facility is and these are

people from outside the virus doesn't go through the window it comes with other people so this is the result of this locked onli of the virus spread throughout the population and now we have the problem that all of peoples are getting infected and if they get infected their immune system is not quite so properly like 304050 year old man or woman they suffer a very severely ill from this virus and they don't have any immune weapon to fire the virus and to control the vice so the course of the disease in these old people is very severe and they have a very high mortality rate even when they come on the intensive care units over the age of $7080.00 the want to tell it in intensive care units is 80 percent. quite astonishing figures that look at this 2nd wave are you happy with the job

that the politicians have done so far. my credo is that stern talk about what happened in the end we have to see that that what they did the last 2 weeks they should not do the same thing and 21 so we have learned now that we should hear our chancellor angela merkel we should hear to the intensive care medicines who says keep keep down keep it down and to to think the lock the light would help the economy etc cetera that's ridiculous because the economy like this and the moment will last for weeks for months and the restaurants and the boss will close for months if we do a strict lock on the infection rates go down you saw it in ireland you saw it in france you saw the belgian every demonstrated that it was successful so now it was

the last chance to recognize this and to do lockdown. intensive care doctor and member of the german association of critical care and emergency medicine thank you for joining us here on set of your news. to discuss the economic impact of another german lockdown this with me is rob was from u.w. business rob a german business group and economists have been warning about the financially effect see the economic effects of street 2nd lock down that actually now could become reality. will decide the german economy well businesses are bracing themselves for this in particular the retail sector sansa to really suffer from a lock down being brought in before the end of the year because of course the christmas period is when a lot of make a significant proportion of the money that they make during the course of the year and they stand to lose out from that i mean retail groups are saying that in a worst case scenario the retail sector could be losing out on a 1000000000 euros every day if

a lockdown is brought in so what they're saying is frightening it's a huge amount of money so they're saying can you please if we do have to have these lock downs focus them in certain areas not everywhere just geographically geographic areas yeah exactly so the shops elsewhere can start to bring in the money that they need they need to be bringing in restaurants and bars have already been having a tough time of it they've faced restrictions if not in a forced to be closed since the start of november the prospects of that continuing touring the christmas period again when you know they stand to make a lot of money normally is not a prospect they're relish and then you know the money manufacturing sector has been recovering over the past few months is in quite a good states now but we don't know what impact a further lockdown would have on their supply chains and then just in terms of you know figures for the german economy so the 3rd quarter we saw growth of 8.5 percent hooray so getting back to normal was thought that there would be a little bit of shrinkage this quarter maybe one percent but if we do have this

locked down if it does kick in this weekend like it is going to in some states then that one percent might seem optimistic so what's the german government going to do it would soften the blow well it's been broadly praised for what it's done so far. to soften the blow it has shown that it can avoid insolvencies through grants and through loans although it had to borrow an awful lot of money to do that it's also been praised for its short time work scheme where it's been paying employees some of the money that they would otherwise have earned just to keep them on the books of the companies they've been working at the most recent thing they've been doing during this sort of lockdown like that's been referred to is offering to pay up to 75 percent of the revenues that companies are missing out on because of the current restrictions but the idea of them extending that during a deeper look down to the retail sector as well and we're talking an awful lot more money in there already there's not a limit. as other no absolutely not i mean the government is already saying look

next year we're going to have to borrow another 180000000000 euros and this is a government that in previous years it's been to boot to talk about borrowing money on that sort of scale so you know that they're going to keep getting different stats and that money's going to have to be paid back at some point rob was from did of your business thank you. germany still has a long way to head for a vaccine european regulators will need just before the new year to decide if the biotech pfizer vaccine is ready for mass distribution the government is already planning the task of how to deliver the vaccine across the country with some disputes already arising correspondent reports. the every night in berlin was well known for its rock concerts and techno parties now it's slated to house one of 6 packs the nation centers in berlin so far there isn't much to see but everything is scheduled to be ready by mid december project manager home is

convinced things were from smoothly. through this time the process we allow 4 minutes for each person to get in take of their coats sit down and roll up their sleeves then the vaccination team comes in they design for inject and put some cause on the wound the last step is the documentation that's. here the vaccinated people will then be looked after by doctors and nurses the patient doesn't have to pay their health insurance covers the costs 1st the elderly will be vaccinated then medical personnel then everyone else right now more than 300 of such vaccination centers are being built throughout germany the government hopes this is the will simplify logistics and make it possible to vaccinate millions of people in the shortest possible time people probably won't be able to get the jab from their family doctor until spring time before that they will have to go to the center.

i think will have to wait for hours at the vaccination center thousands of people will be. found on care whether i get vaccinated at my family doctors or the vaccination center lobby but it is also i would prefer going to our family doctor because they know about my medical history. and will take any risks into account. doctor's ability katzenstein agrees she was one of the 1st 1000000000 family doctors who specialized in treating covert 19 patients x. and 18 people as part of her daily routine when it comes to cope at 19 she says she should be allowed to vaccinate and her own practice is. next a nation is a matter of trust it's important to know the patient because every patient directs differently to unknown risks i think the general practitioner is best equipped to advise each patient in making a decision about the coronavirus vaccination she believes she and other family

doctors in germany can handle the vaccination campaign in the pendant. said in my opinion the vaccination centers were probably not necessary in france can vaccinate its population using family doctors only why can't germany. germany has up to 10 vaccination centers it's a bit katzenstein argues that the best answer is passing the consultation to roads one goal next in one thing as much of the population as possible as quickly as possible. let's have a look now at some of the other stories making headlines around the world today germany is lifting a ban on deportations to syria for the 1st time in 8 years despite the ongoing conflict in the country the decision means that syrian nationals convicted of a crime or deemed a security risk face deportation from january 1st. media says demo democracy activist jimmy liar has been charged under the controversial

new security law he's accused of colluding with foreign forces and in the injuring national security lies the most high profile person yet to be charged under the new law police say he will face the charges in court. argentina's lower house of congress has passed a bill. legalize abortion thousands of pro and anti abortion activists rallied through the night. as lawmakers debated the legislation it has been pushed by president and on this if the bill clears the senate it would make argentina the 1st major latin american nation to decriminalize abortion. illegal set an ambitious target of reducing carbon emissions by 55 percent by the end of this decade compared to emission levels in $990.00 it followed a night of intense talks in brussels with eastern european nations more dependent

on fossil fuels seeking clarity on how to fund the transition to clean g. . judging by their faces there was no doubt it have been a long night here in brussels. after hungary and poland had finally agreed to drop their veto on the entire budget leaders could get on with tackling what was the commission's most pressing issue before the pandemic struck the climate crisis. stuff you had to see all the cheap in this was worth a sleepless night i can't imagine what would have happened if we weren't able to reach this result instead now i think and she's talking about the e.u. xnu more ambitious climate goals compared to 990 the planned now for sea slashing greenhouse emissions by 55 percent in the next 10 years by investing in green energy technology the e.u. has pledged to become climate neutral by 2050 the previous target of 40 percent had been criticized as being far too low but some eastern countries with coal dependent

economies feared serious consequences they demanded more clarity on funding to ease the transition according to the outcome of the meeting each member states individual situation will be addressed level to this year and will is to take into account that different countries had different starting points to take up the issue with the spirit of equality and solidarity. to the polish prime minister's office tweeted we have an agreement which creates the conditions for a just transformation of the polish energy an economy. with another major obstacle out of the way it was time for uncle americal to wrap up germany's e.u. council presidency the stuff in dark and i can tell you the german presidency was a lot of fun although we weren't able to achieve a lot of things that we planned this is all for me last from another to. come 2021 portugal will be taking over. so let's go to see you correspondent is standing

by in brussels for us how big a step is this in reality or is the e.u. council just appearing to take action. here i remember very well how at the paris kind of conference diplomats hocked and shed tears of joy when they finally clutched at that steel but what is happening now is that the member states are making good on the promises they make back then to become carbon neutral by by 2050 for instance so it is the implementation period that is starting now as of january 1st a lot of money billions of euros will go into green energy and this is clearly a 1st very concrete step that the e.u. has committed now to take but how did the e.u. member states manage to convince some of the more resistant and coal reliant countries to agree to this deal. well obviously money was a big game changer here and member states all 27 agreed not just the e.u.

budget but this massive recovery coronavirus recovery fund how not half of that money but 30 percent of that money some some 550000000000 euros will go into that green transition and a lot of money will go to countries that are highly dependent on fossil fuels a more over as we've heard in the report the particular situation of the country will be taken into account so changes will be 1st made where they are possible for instance when it comes to housing and and insulation where both things are possible so we won't see that the polish coal industry will be shut out overnight and thirdly and quite importantly there is a bit of a loophole for some countries for instance nuclear energy will be ever be able to be kept in this mix as in regards carbon neutral and that is important for countries like france and the czech republic were highly relying on nuclear energy . did of use eve correspondent much as in brussels thank you.

went on to some sports news american athletes will now have a bit more freedom when competing on the international stage the united states olympic and paralympic committee says it will not sanction athletes for peacefully and respectfully demonstrate in support of racial and social justice movements the olympic and paralympic games in the past u.s. athletes were banned from competition for protesting in mexico 68 olympics the so-called black power salute by tommy smith and john carlos resulted in both being expelled from the u.s. track team the gesture was rebuked as a patriotic. today that same protest would be permitted by the u.s. under the new policy handed down by the country's olympic committee team usa athletes are encouraged to advocate for racial and social justice and be

a positive force for change some u.s. athletes were proactive in already using their platform in november of the u.s. men's soccer team don jackets with socially conscious messages ranging from. tallahassee to unity before a match the u.s. olympic committee has called on the international olympic committee to recognize that protests focused on human rights and social justice should be welcomed the i.o.c. confirmed that athletes are still banned from any form of protesting at the games following a tidal wave of protests in u.s. sports in athletes who breach that rule are subject to discipline the tokyo games are next summer while the next winter games are in beijing in 2022. berlin sprint stages state ballet now admits it has a problem with racism that admission came after the 1st black woman to join the

company chloe lopez accused this starts by that barely enough mistreatment signed by several colleagues the friends dancer later went public with her story after she found out the ballet wasn't renewing her contract. the legend of the white swan for ballet dancer chloe lopez gomez swan like is no longer just a fairy tale. for skin as white as swan's feathers some european companies have dancers and how do their audience pass gomez says the training director at berlin state ballet told her she would need extra powder. this valley mistress come to me and she told me you will have to quit your skin after a very very sad that unfortunately no one was able to protect me inside this institution. lopez says the company directors eventually told her she didn't have to powder herself white but did nothing to stop the racist remarks

when others gomez joined the shots ballot in 20 team she became its 1st ever black female dancer soon she realized the ballet mistress had a problem with her skin color. sometimes just come out like chloe you're not online and we can only see you because you are black or you're not musical and we can only see you because you are black and during the rehearsal or by out there she was giving some white bad that's we were supposed to put into our heads and one can see much wrong she told me i cannot give it to you because the valleys are white and you are black and she laughed in my face. the interim artistic director says the decision to not renew the dancers contract had nothing to do with lopez comesa skin color and that she'd prefer to handle the matter internally. hydropower completes your tips this week that's just very complicated so i don't want to comment on that i learned through the media that

fear is apparently an issue here it's just too much. but i also know other voices from the ensemble who say they've never experienced such an open atmosphere as here in the state ballet starts by the way lopez gomez has now received support from the world's most famous black ballerina misty copeland the principal dancer at american ballet theater praised her courage on instagram copeland has long been vocal about racism and ballet last year she posted this image from russia's bolshoi calling them out for using blackface berlin state ballet is now planning a new code of conduct and says it must do more to fight racism chloe lopez gomez says it's not enough. she still bad to fire me but i have to regret that. she won't take any action regarding this is really mistress who discriminates me because she's still working at this path like nothing

happened. says she was fired on that ballet mistress's recommendation she's now hired a lawyer and plans to take legal action. you're watching the news here's a reminder top story germany has seen a dramatic spike in corona virus cases over the past 24 hours a new record of nearly 30000 cases was reported on to another 500 to 98 people have died from. the country polls are growing for a tougher lock down during the holiday to curb infection. and european union leaders agreed on dramatic cuts with greenhouse gas emissions

following all i told the member states of richard use emissions 55 percent by the end of the decade. and that's it from me and the news team for now you're up to date next stop is our environment environments magazine eco india i'll be back with more headlines in the opposite thank you very much for watching the news.

ico india. how can a country's economy grow in harmony with its people and find it when there are do words to look at the bigger picture india a country that faces many challenges engines people are striving to create a sustainable future clever projects from europe and india eco fiendish.

next on the deal. in the far north. beyond the inhabitable world it's lonely. barren. and breathtakingly beautiful the arctic a powerful expensive bitter cold. and the sound of global warming. 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 it's

a huge the last 2 years have been smelling roughly. makes it hard which makes it. our future depends on what happens here in one of the most fragile ecosystems on earth. northern lights the arctic circle starts december 21st w. in the field of science helping humans understand the world and has read our lives easier from prehistoric inventions communication technology. mean also science to give back to me by studying the new. by building satellites that help us

. by turning the wheel.