do you feel because in fact we'd have traffic jams we have crowds we have christmas music playing that's in what the case today behind me is a berlin landmark europe's biggest department store maybe you can see the entrance here over my shoulder the fact is on a normal day in the christmas season 100000 tourists and berliners would be flocking here to do some shopping today that has utterly different in fact to the luxury grocery stance here in the cottage in the cottage they are open but there's scarcely a buyer in sight or if we look a little further down the street we can see another berlin landmark the memorial church the day some viewers will surely remember that that was the site of the terror attack in 20164 years ago that wasn't stopping people from going to the christmas market their very very beloved amongst the christmas markets in

this city to enjoy some mulled wine and some christmas treats until this morning now throughout the country germany's famed christmas markets are shut. out of people been telling you about the strict measures. we've heard support from everybody we spoke to and polls show the same thing 75 to 80 percent of germans say this is the right thing to do the people we spoke to here actually said if anything they think these measures should have come sooner and been tightened up before christmas arrives so broad support and you can also see it in the fact that the chancellor's popularity ratings are shooting up again although in fact she is the one who really put the pressure on for this tighter lockdown so clearly german saying that in fact her guidance is. spot

on ok so it's welcome and necessary but it's going to be expensive how is this affecting retailers and employees. it is nothing short of a catastrophe and the retailers association has made that very clear saying that this latest shutdown could endanger as many as half of the businesses in the inner city if they don't get really generous support quickly now the fact is the government has opened the purse once again the finance minister estimating that the latest support measures will add another $11000000000.00 euros to the monthly total of support they will be providing direct payments to affected retailers to help them cover fixed costs nonetheless a great deal of worry amongst retailers and amongst municipal associations that this could have a dramatic impact on the inner cities if we see businesses shut that in fact this

empty city center could become the new normal for now thank you chief political correspondent melinda crane. months of restrictions on daily life of change german spending habits a few places to go people have been turning their attention to their homes which is good news for the country's financial produces. a warehouse photo shoot close by berlin starring chairs tables and sofas. online furniture trade a home 24 is making pictures for the company's website 180000 articles are on offer with new models joining every day. since the pandemic struck online furniture sales have shot up by 50 percent. the money that people would otherwise have invested in holidaying abroad is now going into home improvements says the company's c.e.o. . we weren't expecting such

a boom initially we were also gripped by a sense of insecurity but then we responded very quickly and learned fast. what we have been expecting for the last 10 years is that online furniture demand will start to climb the same way it's been doing for ages in the electronics and fashion sectors. the company sales warehouse has furniture packs stacked up to the 12 metre high roof cupboards tables chairs mirrors. normally smaller pieces are delivered to a customer within 2 days of ordering larger pieces can take a week but after 10 months of massive orders logistics manager who. was having trouble getting fresh pieces in storage space is increasingly standing empty. right now we've got about 100000 packages lying here we can see that there are gaps in the supply chain here and there we're already facing delivery bottlenecks and

our suppliers are offering us different delivery deadlines to the ones we used to. supply and demand under so much pressure the company doesn't want to waste time or space with returns. so it's opened showrooms in 6 large cities. here potential customers can try out a selection of the online furniture and meet sales staff as well. the showroom strategy is also a way of developing long term relations with customers one over during the pandemic . well let's take a quick look now at some of the other developments in this pandemic the u.s. drugs regulator has announced that its analysis of the modernity vaccine indicates that it's safe a 94 percent effective meaning emergency approval could be granted in days of the drug rolled out next week south korean officials say the capital seoul has only 3 intensive care beds left in the city with

a population of nearly 26000000 the country has reported a 2nd surge in cases of in recent days and scientists from the world health organization are planning to visit the chinese city of will one where the corona virus was 1st reported they want to find out how it jumped species from animals to humans. so many of the stories making news around the world now people living in the path of a super storm set to hit fiji have been warned to secure their properties or flee to the nearest emergency shelters still forages a warning that psycho yasser is strong enough to uproot buildings. japanese prosecutors have charged a man with murder over an arson attack on an animation studio last year shinji hour is accused of setting the coyote animation building on fire killing $36.00 people and injuring dozens more but he claims the studio stole his word. the e.u. has announced plans to revamp the blocks cyber security regulations just days after

data on a new coronavirus vaccine was hacked financial markets and health care infrastructures will be the top priority is to block also wants to bolster its sanctions response to cyber security breaches so you commission the president on the line says there's been some progress in a trade deal on a trade deal with britain when the u.k. leaves the bloc she told the european parliament the next few days would be crucial remaining sticking points are fair competition in the e.u. market and fishing rights for a new vessels in u.k. waters it's. well for companies transporting goods between the european union and the u.k. a new border regulations that come with breakfast are likely to lead to longer waiting times and no bureaucracy as british companies are rushed to bring goods into the country before the end of the year deadline the truck drivers leaving france are getting a taste of the potential chaos to come the w.'s alexandra phenomena reports from

cali. the port of cully a key departure point for goods headed across the channel by truck for now they move freely between the european union and the u.k. but with the end of the brakes a transition there will be new rules and restrictions on watch terms that's what both sides are still negotiating the port authorities however tell us they have prepared as much as they can you have. we've hired new employees we've restructured the organization we've opened premises we have trained our employees we've created a special computer system so i think we're ready with a deadline quickly approaching the port is experiencing the highest levels of traffic so far this year last week they processed almost 22000 trucks here extreme stockpiling has led to long lines and massive delays in their last few weeks as businesses try to get goods into britain the for

a potential no exit many here fear this is just a glimpse of what the situation will be like when. standards and immigration checks kick in on both sides of the channel. david sedaris wore it his business operates $110.00 trucks that transport flow or sugar and other goods from across europe to the u.k. with disruptions and delays to be expected the whole of fear is he'll lose money. i think the main risk is the traffic jams with long standing and waiting times for the vehicles and that's really harmful for us. on the one hand you're not earning any money on the other hand you still have the running costs for the truck and the driver was it to get more people it was really shocking for us one of his drivers just came back from a tour today u.k. he says going there was a nightmare. he started here at 9 in the morning and arrived in dover at 5 pm.

and normally normally already in england by midday. david sanger is disappointed that the politicians have wasted so much time they ask you to anticipate the changes to come he says while they wait until the last minute to decide at the port in cali meanwhile the customs officers are also getting a bit anxious. we're impatient to see if everything we did will work and if there are any problems we'll have to face. whether there is a trade deal or not they tell us big changes will come when the u.k. leads to single market. the european parliament has awarded its sakharov prize for freedom of thought to the opposition movement its leader to kind of sky accepted the prize on the behalf of the movement's behalf she called it an important marker

of the fight for freedom and betters has been living in exile since denouncing the results of its presidential election opposition supporters of demonstrators on the streets of the capital minsk every week since the election result was announced. from d.w. correspondent nick calmly who's reported extensively from belarus welcome nic so what does this prize that means for the push for democracy in belarus. well this is obviously an important symbolic gesture for you lawmakers there underlining if it needed to be done once again their support for that democratic opposition in belarus in a way though this is nothing really new silicone has spent the last few months traveling around europe in getting the red carpet treatment wherever she's gone most european governments have said that they do not recognize alexander lukashenko as the legitimate president anymore they see her as the winner of that election so this is the question now how much is

a prize like this really change definitely in recent weeks we've heard. calls from the opposition from city. that you're now has to follow on this is for all the demonstrative good humor fear is never very far away in minsk but most people here don't want to be recognized you know you agree to be filmed wearing a mask one person who is willing to take that risk is media 20 she's only ever known one leader at xander. one mr bush back in august we felt the change was really close it felt like it was in breach of just a day or 2 more and everything would change. for months later we're not where we wanted to be. police emerge out of on mock bans 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. the fear only really hits you when you get home and read about everything that's happened that day online. i always carry a set of instructions with me that tell you what to do and here's a call in case you're arrested. eventually the protesters recruit continue. on 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 so what. we got really lucky one time the police were using stun grenades we got hit by some shrapnel there was nowhere to hide and all we could do is knock on people's doors we moved from house to house and eventually there are about 30 of us hiding in one woman's house she looked after us and wouldn't let us risk leaving the house unless we had

a lift to pick us up. 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 changed as a country could never happens now that can't be robust can be compared to what. no one can say with any certainty how long these protests will continue or what they might still achieve but for most of these young better russians out protesting giving up doesn't seem to be an option. so back to macaulay nick how have these protests changed since august. the protest as it had to evolve and change their protests in response to that government crackdown we're seeing ever longer sentences handed out recently women who had pulled

a balaclava from a riot police officer one of these demonstrations was handed down a 2 and a half year sentence just for basically exposing his identity nothing more than that so just if you want example when i was in minsk in late summer when these protests were at their height you saw the opposition's red and white flag hanging from balconies from fences from roofs everywhere you went it was really present in the city back then the government was playing essentially a catch a mouse game with these opposition supporters sending out reasonable employees with us to try and pull them down as soon as they took them down and see people who are placing these flags sometimes replacing them with a red and white so they just happened to have to hand now people are being arrested at home for having these flags on their balconies so there is a definite. rising. response from the government great to reste the people expressing these protests and we're seeing people becoming more creative and being more subtle and how they express this protest in the summer we had hundreds

thousands of people athletes of people remembering that children their pets really felt like a festival at times. now as you saw in that report people marching around the neighborhoods in smaller groups where it's part of the police to catch them but they also can get to safety in a hurry people are really having to but they are carrying on that's the main thing for months after these protests began and across the country protest is a reality ok so the protests are changing adapting as you say where do you sing them going. well that's the $1000000.00 question i think for now there is the main focus is just on holding in and keeping going i think the opposition's done a good job of not splitting and not being split into factions is a very different people who have come together in the coordination council of the russian opposition they are all for now listening to what. is saying i think most people that think that if they can keep on the pressure keep coming

out they are really creating real problems for the government that is really running out of money having to pay security services huge wages to keep that loyalty going really also depends on creating the illusion the impression of full support from the government i think a democratic system can put up with tens of thousands people coming out to protest against it if it has that which the missi does not have anymore and the longer this carries on the lesser his chances of continuing his 25 years in office so i think for now it's about holding in. says that if things carry on as they all she hopes that could see fresh elections and a new government in the spring thank you so much convoy. you might remember last month's images of a chinese spacecraft blasting off for the mood well it's due to return to earth in the next few hours carrying fresh samples of rock and daybreak chinese ground crew are awaiting the landing of the mission and with the 1st lunar samples for both 45

years. chang a 5 was one of the most complicated and challenging missions in china's aerospace 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 is dug for rocks and soil. the materials were then transferred into a return capsule for the journey back to earth. a quick holiday all of our current lunar program consists of 3 paces landing 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 luggage you know. it's the 1st time in 4 decades that material has been brought back from the moon china's space ambitions are no secret and have been growing for years. the in

2003 it secured a major breakthrough when it became the 3rd country in the world to send a man enter 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 29000 in a global 1st lunar probe touching down on the far side of the moon boosting china's space ambitions mars is also. sides 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 us a g.p.s.

but this lunar mission to bring back material from the moon was one of china's most ambitious to date. germany's bundesliga has had a wrestling 8 of midweek matches dortmund return to winning ways after a change of coach a new interim boss at inter secured a $21.00 win and bremen and picked the youngest player ever to start in the league . league match at braman another historic moment for the teenager it's also the 1st turn of the season for assistant coach turn haid 18th here it's each do it minute get their new head coach fired up early in the 12th minute geed insisted show shot was blocked with raphael guerrero found the rebound to dig the ball over year republican for dili. the don't mean lead didn't last long only about 15 minutes bray means max egleston put it on a t.v.

for a candid movie who smashed it into the net to level the affair. after the break the youngster mukoko got his chance but the 16 year old put too much peperoni. brain means aggressive defense has been the man. of lake of brought down manuel a conduit to set up the decisive goal. the day's pov lanka did his best to prevent marco rice's winner but to no avail publicly managed to get a hand on the ball but royce was there to clean it up. dortmund with 1810 seats at the helm get back to winning ways with a 21 victory over bringing. also want to stay nightclub boss visit to frankfurt offered high drama right to the very last moment frankfurt's andre silva had of booting all the frankfurt's goals he broke the deadlock in the 1st half when

he latched on to the poor and fired in this past young zama the visiting side had their own hero lashed until he netted a hot trick into green equaliser in the 95th minute and 3 all frankfurt's eights draw in 12 games. find me researches in australia have found the kangaroos can learn to communicate with humans in the same way 2 dogs their study showed the characters use their gaze to have a point and ask for help in the study 10 of a 11 mass if you'll stand it research is when they couldn't open a box containing food so the findings suggest that wild animals can also to effectively communicate with people in the same way that as domesticated. i think you're up to date i'll have more for you at the top of the hour our next up we're about business magazine made in germany with.

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to own. or not too well. what about assuring the economy instead. of a change in thinking is changing the economy to create something new. economic magazine meet in germany. next d.w.i. . to use crime fighter. as far back africa's most successful radio drama series continues this season the stories focus on hate speech prevention and sustainable

production. olympus odes are available online and of course you can share and discuss on africa's facebook page and other social media platforms. crime fighters to noone else. tele town. i. print some trick monarch. few 100 fantasy. to see. secrets cut starts december tends to. go up.

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