when that will happen. and so not so national authorities are supporting the european authorities to the best of their ability the goal is to secure approval before christmas. germans have watched patiently as the vaccine invented in the country has been rolled out already in the u.k. and the us mass immunization centers are currently being equipped millions of doses of vaccine are on order those with a heightened risk of infection will be invited 1st the elderly as well as front line medical workers establishing priority is key in distributing the vaccine. many people wanted as quickly as possible but there isn't enough at least in the beginning so that's why we need clear and transparent priorities the vaccine is being kept under key and lock and it's very highly protected the vaccine is coming to germany but unlike with father christmas himself nobody can be sure yet when to expect. let's break down what has changed in germany under this latest

stricter lockdown starting today all non-essential shops are closed supermarkets pharmacies as well as banks are allowed to remain open schools are shot a deal the 10th of january and companies be encouraged to allow their staff to work from home where possible chancellor angela merkel also made an appeal for people to limit their social contacts during the holidays the number of people allowed to meet indoors will remain restricted to 5 not including children under 14 and in anticipation of new year's celebrations sales of fireworks have also been banned. let's bring in chief political correspondent melinda crane he is standing by at one of burnham's most popular shopping districts linda i was also one of those people out and about yesterday trying to do some last minute shopping it was really busy consuming it's a little different out there today. absolutely eerily quiet if you know what this absolutely beloved shopping district would normally look like

i'm standing on germany's famous. behind me is a landmark in all of europe europe's largest department store also berlin's absolute landmark the car david a if you were here then you probably saw that yesterday there was still a line stretching around the block people trying to get in there to do their last minute shopping and now the grocery department is still open but as you can see the entrance is absolutely devoid of shoppers and in fact all we are seeing are lone pedestrians an occasional couple or family behind me if i go over here you can see germany's famous memorial church the good. and perhaps known to some of our viewers is the place where the attack on the christmas market occurred 4 years ago it too

was the site of people drinking mold wine enjoying a little fellowship and christmas treats until yesterday evening now absolutely shut down so instead of the 100000 people who would normally be visiting the cod a they on a day like this there are perhaps a few 100 and how are people reacting if you've been able to find any to speak to you how are they reacting to these measurements. with absolute understanding and support for the measures most of the older people we're seeing walking around here pedestrians are wearing masks they are all saying absolutely the right thing to do and if you look at the polls 80 percent of germans say this is essential the chancellor who announced these measures on sunday she is seeing an absolute wave in popularity since she said last week that we cannot go on as we have what does this trick shot down mean it isn't the 1st one it's not now the 2nd strict one for

a tell us what does it mean for them and their employees. retailers are saying it's an absolute catastrophe the fact is the federal government is once again offering significant support directly to affected retailers the finance minister saying that will add $11000000000.00 euros to the total monthly budget for coronas support and nonetheless retailers associations are saying that as many as 50 percent of the retails retailers in the inner cities could wind up having to shut their doors despite support they also are saying this will have significant consequences for germany's inner cities with shops shutting down and potentially a boost for online sales but with real implications for urban life all remain in the crane's painters from famous thank you very much. let's bring in dr vale of plays and monash he's a physicist at germany's max planck institute dr plays

a man you've been pleading for a strict lockdown to come into place much earlier than today but politicians ignored the whole has has today come to light. obviously would have been nice to have logged on and wouldn't have to talk about christmas we're discussing a lot. it's possible to do 345 or 6 people over christmas it's a family holiday. but on the other hand it's a good time but also. the business schools and he. spends it is it is the reasonable amount. speaking specifically of exponential growth and could you explain in simple terms if possible what the government hopes to achieve with this lockdown. so what is very clear from already logical thinking and we've been made and while the growth of calculations about it it's absolutely clear that

as soon as a case numbers are low you know this is a threshold of 30 pardon for a few cases when they control this much easier why it is that we have the health authorities that do the testing that we will contact tracing and as soon as these can act again they can be faster than the virus if case numbers are too high we don't have sufficient tests we don't have sufficient capacity for contact tracing their origins are slow after the virus and it's absolutely crucial especially because of the asymptomatic cases that these people are identified before they continue spreading the virus so lonely has 3 to 5 days of integration time and it would be so set extremely important to help it off or reduced to this context tracing fast of this information right now the head of the world medical association has said we'll be saying much longer lockdowns despite the beginning of vaccinations is he right well that's a nation depends on how much experience there is and how much a new t.v.

and how much the u.s. mission stops the spread what is absolutely clear from the models is if there are al value of corn as $3.00 and only 50 percent of the people get vaccinated it effectively reduces our by 50 percent so we're down to $1.00 ish $1.00 is still above the critical goal you're so it will not be sufficient to return completely to a normal life or just on that that's a question that we like to ask all our experts because it's the one that everyone wants to know when can we expect to see vaccinations allowing a return to normal life. this is a very difficult question and we don't have the data yet to do any type of nations on that i'm sorry. or i will adopt a veil of face a month thank you very much your expertise. and we'll have more relating to the pandemic later in the program when we ask other robots taking over how technology

has become our friends during a physically distanced and. first let's take a look at some other stories making news around the world a you commission president at a fund the line says there's been some progress on a post breaks a trade deal with the united kingdom she told the european parliament the next few days would be critical to sticking points remain fair competition in the e.u. market and fishing rights for 18 vessels in u.k. water is very difficult. for u.s. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has congratulated joe biden on his election win in a speech on the senate floor the republican leader ended weeks of silence over president donald trumps to fate it came a day after the electoral college officially confirmed by the victory. hungary has amended the definition of family in its constitution to limit adoption by same sex couples it now defines a family as a fame out mother and a male father rights groups have attacked the move prime minister viktor orban has

worked to bring cost $1.00 bring in a more conservative mold since coming to power. dozens of police officers were injured in clashes with anti lock down protesters in ukraine on tuesday demonstrators gathered in kiev to rally against recently announced coronavirus restrictions non-essential businesses schools and james will be shot from the 8th of january on in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. well you might remember the images last month of a chinese spacecraft blasting off to the moon well it's due to return to earth in the coming hours carrying fresh samples of moon rock and debris chinese ground crews are awaiting the landing of the unmanned mission and with it the 1st lunar samples in more than 45 years. china 5 was one of the most complicated and challenging missions in china's era space history. when the rocket was launched on november 23rd it was

a source of national pride the probe was made up of 4 modules one was the lander which was dug for rocks and soil. the materials were then transferred into a return capsule for the journey back to earth. we hollowed all of our current lunar program consists of 3 paces orbiting lending and returning to the 5 will carry on to 3rd face bringing moon samples they were the earth for the 1st time we hope this will be a success for. your mother q. it's the 1st time in 4 decades that material has been brought back from the moon china's space ambitions are no secret under been growing for years. in 2003 it secured a major breakthrough when it became the 3rd country in the world to send a man into space. 10 years later china hit another milestone

successfully landing an unpiloted spacecraft on the moon it was the 1st soft landing since the soviet union success in 1976 more chinese cheers in january 2901st a lunar probe touching down on the far side of the moon boosting china's space ambitions mars is also in its sights this year beijing. launching an unmanned probe to the red planet. in july china put the final satellite into orbit for its chinese navigation system the country's rival to the u.s. g.p.s. but this lunar mission to bring back material from the moon was one of china's most ambitious to date. and joining us now from the netherlands is not my corcoran he's senior advisor for science and exploration at the european

space agency mark thanks for joining us this is a complex mission it could still end in failure if the spaceship crashes upon landing how challenging is the technical side of this mission i think it's important to realize that china could have done this in a simpler way you could have had a direct return of luna samples from the surface for example but it's chosen to do it in a way which is complicated because it leads to the next step that leads to the ability to send humans to the mood so for example landing on the surface with an orbiter going around the moon and then rendezvous in with that orbiter reconnecting with it getting rid of one piece of the spacecraft flying back with another these are all the things that the apollo missions to it in the 1960 s. and seventy's so i think it is more challenging than it needs to be for the what it's doing today but for a very very specific purpose is that the main purpose then you need to put humans on the night. well in this case of course they are bringing samples back from an

interesting location a place called mom's room curragh in the o.c. honest prosser lauren which is the ocean of storms on the moon and in fact it's a place that no other mission has been to before whether soviet or american the samples there that the minerals on the moon are much younger than in other locations so that's actually important for trying to understand the evolution of the moon what happened there billions of years ago and also it's important because those samples will be as i say different from the ones we brought back before and we're very interested everybody all the international countries interested in going back to the moon are really curious about how to extract resources from the minerals on the moon water oxygen and other things which we can use when we actually go and sit on the moon for a longer period of time. as so you'll be sharing the information that china has been putting so much if it in space exploration in recent years away heading into a future where china leads the rice and the u.s.

and europe will be struggling to keep up. yeah well yes there's this narrative about the new space race is constant but i actually don't think it's like that atoll we are collaborating very actively with china on scientific missions we've also sent some of our astronauts to train with china so there's a possibility in the future that we might actually fly on the chinese space station for example and at the same time the united states and europe along with canada and japan and perhaps with russia as well looking to build a thing called the lunar gateway we've been building hardware for years to go back to the moon just delivered that to nasa so it's ready to fly astronauts back to the moon 3 european nationals will be going to the moon in the next decade or so but this is all part i think of a very different approach to lunar exploration and the rest of the solar system a much more collaborative approach so i think yes china's doing very impressive work at the moment is suited we shouldn't deny that for a moment but it's something which we're all doing together and i think it's very

exciting time for space exploration of the next decade in day mamak on from their pain space agency thank you very much my pleasure belarus in opposition latest atlanta chicken of sky is in brussels today she's about to save the european parliament's top human rights prize on behalf of her movement of positions of voters have been protesting on the streets of men every week since all this time when president alexander lukashenko claimed victory in a disputed election. prize for freedom of thought is a war to give to an individual or group for an outstanding contribution to democracy and human rights. joining me now live from brussels is day of the correspondent marina strauss marina why do you think he was awarding this prize to the batteries in opposition movement are they trying to send a message. i think in australia has travelled to brussels multiple times over the

last couple of months dio she also travelled to berlin to paris for example to draw attention to what is happening in her home country and she managed because she got a lot of potential for media and also from politicians so the fact that the european parliament know awarded this prize to her and most of her developers an episode is hugely symbolic is beside off solidarity and there's also some price money coming with it obviously indeed $50000.00 euros in prize money in fact which is a nice gesture has the actually done anything to support the opposition on the ground in batteries. from the beginning of the protests that you always said yeah we want to show solidarity with you we don't accept the outcome of the election we say is election fraud they have courage and they have criticised. times but the opposition always said this is not enough you have to act and you have to act now we can't wait and so the e.u. decided on sanctions 1st on sanctions on people close to the christan call and then

also sanctions on the south but sanctions against the government and. the people meet him is nothing new but critics say they have not been very effective in the past is this this round of sanctions any different is could be because this is day to now considering a 3rd package of sanctions and so more people would vote would be blocked from entering the e.u. and also their bank accounts are blocked and this and that was the targeting companies so it means this could hurt more economically but some people also fear this controlled heard also belarusian people at the same time. speaking to us from brussels thanks very much. but despite down on demonstrators and journalists in bellerose state of connally went to minsk to meet with a young woman who's been out protesting from the very start.

of this case the much of stone news coming out to march on sundays is as much a part of everyday life as having breakfast and neighborhood just won't keep quiet it's here that you finally get to meet your neighbors for all the demonstrative good humor fear is never very far away in minsk most people here don't want to be recognised you know you agree to be filmed wearing them mosques one person who is willing to take that risk is media at 20 she's only ever known one leader at xander . was to book a shack in august we felt the change was really close like it was in reach just a day or 2 more and everything would change. but 34 months later when not where we wanted to be never understood that our. police emerge out of on mark plans scattering the marches in all directions dozens of smaller

demonstrations in parallel across the capital means making the police is that much harder for the hundreds of protesters still routinely arrested each week and the stakes are rising the courts hand out a harsher sentences. that the previous year only really hits you when you get home and find out about what's happened online i have a suitcase for jail packed and ready at home in case they come and arrest me i know what to do. they benchley the protesters recruitment continue this time without the help of modern technology so often on protest days in belarus the government has switched off mobile phone networks. the reaction to their protests from the locals is overwhelmingly positive. one time we were running from the police a woman let us into her house to hide there were about 30 of us that he thought of an invalid and she didn't let us leave till the next morning she was so worried

with get arrested. that was really brave that was really risky what she did. but not everyone is as impressed. as the march reaches its conclusion the question is as ever how to get home without getting arrested. because it really feels like we've changed as a country whatever happens now that can't be reversed can appear to them but. no one can say with any certainty how long beach protests will continue or what they might still achieve before most of these young better russians are protesting giving up doesn't seem to be an option. and belarus and better is in opposition latest atlanta ga enough guy is right now receiving the sack of prize here she is addressing the european parliament in brussels let's have a brief listen and. people locked inside the 3rd row by special forces

it's a peaceful bill arose and it in these marked with different colors to did to determine how severely they should be beaten by the police officers and it is a peaceful bill rose. deliberately infection prison this with quick 19 it is a peaceful bill rose in the heart of europe. she is what one feels here in those stories. i am one of the thousands of the recess who used to be a trait. an invisible wall of fear was built around us this world of fear held us back for almost 3 to keats but this year everything has changed bellerose see an opposition latest chicken

a skier there accepting the sacrifice from the european parliament well physical distancing has been kadian battling the covert 19 pandemic and aside from the personal challenges it's also brought a whole range of practical ones luckily this year technology has been able to step in and lend a helping hand take a look. fast and fish and and often very polite. but most importantly like this robot in japan contact furry. businesses around the world have been embracing bro bots and also mation and the name of cost cutting and safety this is the only way you can actually offer to completely contact us and see if it's millions to consumers in washington d.c. it's not uncommon to share the footpath with these little food deliveries. the health care sector is also taking advantage of new technologies please leave the

room place that's all of this infection so we want to make sure that we touch every surface by the lights and this can be done by the robot as it drives itself. in israel this hospital tests new technology in dedicated simulation broome's nymphes while at this indian hospital patients are registered without contact. mol familia machines are also being repurposed to fill gaps in medical supply chains and reach for more areas like islands in the u.k. are going to be flying carpet testing kits p.p. from the mainland to the island where communications are very difficult you have to ferries calls and take a very long time germany is also trial and using drones in berlin to bypass road traffic and quickly deliver a car that 19 tests from hospitals to one of europe's largest labs. right here in maine for both of you to pay for the only choice a doctor military air while still

a novelty robots could be an essential part to a quicker return to normality us and reminder of the top story we're following for you today germany has reported its highest daily death toll yet in the coronavirus and demick 952 and figure was released on the day that the country and has a tough 1st night nationwide lockdown with shops and schools closing until at least the 10th of january. you're watching a date on the news coming up is made in germany business magazine ceasing. to.

to own. or not to well. what about a sherman economy instead. of

a change in thinking is changing the economy to create something new. economic magazine maybe in germany. next. to go with. villagers in kenya were being poisoned by a lead smelting plant a factory that recycled batteries caused illness and death. but phyllis olmedo far harder to have the facility closed and one. local flood to a day when everyone in the little group would be able to receive treatment going for good. in 60 minutes w. .

imagine how many push the old loves us road out in the morning right now climb a tree to fend off a story. basis watch closely when photos one week. how much worse can really get. we still have time to ask i'm going to. see. it seems crime and more abuse like this. a 20 metre cliff a couple of ropes freezing cold water and me trying to cope with all of that i did make it down in the end but this outing with a couple of guys really had me testing my limits and that's precisely our topic

this week on made leaving the comfort zone i'm chris colfer welcome we don't.