this is to w. news live from berlin more grim news from germany on the race to get people back to the native germany staley covert 19 cases surged past the 30000 mark and deaths topped 800 that's as the country's health minister readies a new law spelling out google gets a life saving job 1st and who will have to wait also in the show migration and mental health reassess the psychological toll that refugees stuck and camps are playing every day. and hundreds of boys and 90 year he are heading home after

being kidnapped by islamist militants their abduction last week from a school prompted public anger and fresh demands for better protection for the country's children. welcome to the program germany's kovac crisis keeps escalating the number of daily infections has risen above the 30000 mark for the 1st time that's just days after a record spike and the german death toll which has been lagging the infection numbers by several weeks the country's 2nd wave is also threatening to swamp the country's medical system in the worst hit areas hospitals have begun to transfer patients to less severely affected places. to talk more about this we're

joined by hans but i'm too political correspondent hans welcome germany's infection rate is at its highest since the beginning of the pandemic walk us through how that is affecting the country's health care infrastructure. well as we've just seen the number of deaths is rising very rapidly and in many hospitals in germany the limits a ball to be reached will have been reached already that's especially true for areas in eastern germany or in the far east of germany which at the moment have the highest infection rates in the country these are rather remote areas where hospitals all small and their facilities are limited in their in those areas people are being moved out of those hospitals every day normally by helicopter to other parts of germany where they are still beds available all of the shifting around of patients is happening in many regions of germany at the moment so the health system

is under strain it's not overstrained yet but at the same time one has to say overstrained other people who are working in these hospitals that i've been working very hard this is a very often physically exhausting work and many of them themselves are either infected or so exhausted that their current work anymore are german lockdown measures not working or why do we continue to see steadily increasing infections and death sons. well we have to see that the infections that we are counting now are people that infected themselves maybe 10 days ago and the people the deaths that are so we are seeing are people that are infected themselves maybe 3 weeks ago so there is a lag involved in this and we have to say that the measures that were in place 10 days or 3 weeks ago were not sufficient they were not working the more severe lockdown was only imposed this week but there is some hope as a result of the vaccinations that are about to start with. vaccinating agent that

was developed in germany about which should germany has shown me is very proud of we have a report about this let's have a look at this report. by on take began as a small startup back in 2008 now the world's focus is on the vaccine development in mind one of its early backers that jamming government is pleased to be seeing a retard on its investment. it's my concert myself also as the head of the federal government we are incredibly proud that we have researchers like this here in germany doesn't. read about the corona virus outbreak in china in january and predicted a global pandemic you decided to really direct their resources from research in cancer to finding a coronavirus vaccine. scheme upon a stash site it's a very exciting time when we get the approval from the european authorities we can

start delivering our vaccine potentially even this year our employees will work through christmas to make sure that our vaccine makes it to all countries. and initially some 400000 doses will be kept for use in germany if the e.u. gives the green light by the 23rd of december vaccinations could get underway here by the 27th. it's clear who will be receiving the vaccine 1st our primary goal is to protect people over 80 years old and those who live or work in retirement homes or care facilities. the health minister says the rest of society will have to wait their turn for the vaccine. once media reports are that that response vaccine rollout plan diverges from the commission's recommendation what do we know about that. because the health minister

will be signing this regulation today and he has confirmed that in fact whereas the experts had could recommend it 6 groups 6 levels of patients that are people that should be vaccinated he has regrouped this into 3 groups and the reason for that is that the feels that his mill flexible so you don't have to just finish vaccinating everyone in the top group before you can go one step further down so he feels that with this flexibility the whole situation will be more easy more easily. managed in this situation but the main priority still remains with people that are over 80 years old and with people that are involved in caring for sick patients especially in hospitals you know you political correspondent husband thank you very much. meanwhile the u.s. has moved closer to approving a 2nd covert 19 vaccine after an independent panel of experts and doors the shot

made by pharmaceutical company madonna the decision paves the way for the f.d.a. to approve emergency use of the vaccine the u.s. has already started its mass immunization with a covert back seen by biotech pfizer the e.u. under pressure now to follow suit said it too would speed up its approval of the modern a vaccine decisions now expected on january 6th. french president among call has tested positive for the corona virus the president's office says it's highly likely that my call caught the virus at a european council summit last week no says feels alarm and exile of the among europe's leaders many of whom had close contact with at that summit he also hosted spain's and portugal's leaders and paris this week both are now in quarantine. and affectionate squeeze that's how french president emanuel not home greeted officials and heads of government last week at the e.u.

summit and how he welcomed portuguese prime minister antonio costa to the elysee palace on wednesday. but now that michael has tested positive for the coronavirus those close contacts may wish they dodged his warm embrace. it was last night the president started to experience symptoms indicative of a covert 19 year mediately isolated and took a p.c.r. test the results of which confirmed that he is positive for coping 19. soon i thought he would tell me as for everyone who test positive in this country contact tracing began immediately in order to identify the president's close contacts. back home symptoms are mild he attended this meeting for truly from isolation but the positive test has been to both his agenda and the agenda of european. politics as the u.k. and the e.u. attempt to negotiate a breaks a trade deal before the end of the year. a growing list of european leaders who met

with michael are now working from home working that is unless they become seriously ill. in paris there was little surprise at the president's misfortune. so yes that it's serious it affects everyone so no there's no reason to blame him. it's obvious given his job that this would happen so it doesn't surprise me that probably probably didn't respect the social distancing rules. michael joins a long list of world leaders who have caught the virus and just over a week before the e.u. was hoping to begin vaccinations let's take a look now at the latest global developments and the pandemic china is planning to vaccinate 15000000 high risk people before the start of its lunar new year at least for chinese made vaccines are in face 3 testing a study in singapore suggests pregnant women with copd 19 do not get more ill than

the wider population the study also found that babies born to infected mothers have antibodies against the virus and officials in australia have declared sydney's northern beaches a coronavirus hot spot $21.00 beaches will be closed because of a spike in cases there cindy residents are being urged to stay at home. the coronavirus pandemic has led to a rise in mental health problems among migrants stuck and camps in greece that's according to a study by the international rescue committee the i.r.c. some 15000 people are currently stuck in overcrowded reception centers on greek islands while the conditions here are made worse by lockdowns imposed because of the virus the i.r.c. study found that additional restrictions and movement have worsened symptoms and a range of psychological disorders among migrants.

with me now from athens is jimmy polo country director for the international rescue committee in greece demitra thanks for joining me you have been in and out of the camps give us a better description of these places that officials still call reception centers. good morning. so so yes there are sections centers of the. there's a few centers where our report focuses on the mental health conditions at the reception centers on or on the islands. we're going to ization is working in this instance is having a mental health program in 3 of those items seeing people from the reception center and then having around this this program for more than 2 years now we decided it was time to issue a report in order to show what we are experiencing. yes the

situation is an r.p.g. . and what we see is a deterioration of the situation. that started with the corbett lock down in in spring and still continues so we should not forget that. rather there are stricter rules for the people residing in their sections center with them for the for the general population which circumstances are weighing the heaviest on the people stuck in those camps i'm sorry can you repeat again i didn't hear you very well what are the circumstances that are weighing heaviest on the people stuck and scams and affecting their mental health. yes so so in addition to the very stressful condition of not knowing what will happen in the future and need to

anyway people being stuck in india in very problematic situations with the goal of aid they're not there even less able to get away from from those camps so. and there is the additional let the additional fear of the disease itself when there are very little chances of hygiene and social distancing its simplest and see which is like the 2 main measures that we are all of virus to take so and in concert where there are public sanitation facilities long queues in order to get to get food and so on. so all these 2 basic measures are very very difficult to to take. so yes to me try carol carol paolo of the i.r.c. increase thank you very much for your time thank you. meanwhile the number of

refugees worldwide keeps growing this year the un counted a total of nearly 80000000 refugees globally an increase of some 10000000 and many of those people have been living as refugees for months if not all of their lines we have this report from lebanon. every morning you're really cleans the source out of this rusty oil oven it runs all night so that her children kept up by the cold with temperatures dropping close to 0 degrees celsius meanwhile father for tasks is desperately trying to insulate the shack. it's miserable we don't have proper schools here nothing to do at night so i huddled the kids close together so that they keep warm we don't even have warm clothing for them. it's set to be the harshest winter for the family yet not just due to the cold nearly 10 years ago they left aleppo fleeing syria's civil war

since then their lives have been devoid of prospects but it has never been this bad . name and barely any jobs left for us everything has gotten worse and that's why you. almost 90 percent of refugees here now live in what is considered extreme poverty and the coronavirus has arrived at the camp but mosques are in short supply . the kidnapper had to move everyone here is afraid and worried my father in syria has just died of coronavirus 3 days ago. in order. the explosion at the beirut harbor in august was the catalyst for a wider crisis 200 people died 7000 were injured and 300000 made homeless the already teetering economy crashed completely and that has affected the willingness to support around 1000000 refugees in the small country. they're a burden on lebanon and any other country they live in they should go back oh. they

need to go back lebanon is in a huge crisis we also don't have jobs and money for food there is nothing nice and nothing about the young so for those sentiments off felt in the bekaa valley many syrians here are afraid of being attacked and are scared to leave the camps at night. which it's awful after 5 pm i don't go out even not to the pharmacy or the market. looking. for most people here a return to syria is unthinkable. house is destroyed and he fears being arrested his name is on the regime's wanted list and so he'd rather stay here than risk being put into a torture prison. let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world

a category 5 cyclone yasi flattened entire villages in the pacific island nation of fiji the storm caused landslides flooding and power blackouts as it swept across the island of manuel level with winds of up to 345 kilometers an hour authorities say the cyc loan has now weekend. the northeastern united states has been hit by a record amount of snow the powerful snow storm has hit massachusetts pennsylvania and new york affecting 16000000 people officials have warned of near impossible travel conditions and asked people to stay off the roads. chinese tech giant says it is dismayed that a unit within the company touted software for identifying weaker minority members says the technology was used only in testing and was not sent to any customer china is believed to hold as many as 1000000 weekers and internment camps to nigeria now

where president mohammad has welcomed the release of more than 300 school boys kidnapped last week by armed men the boys were abducted from a school in the northwestern state of could sina the students will undergo medical examinations before being reunited with their loved ones nigeria's president said their release was quote a big relief to their families the entire country and the international community the jihadist group boko haram claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. spawn then why sue interest joins me from now good to see you get us up to speed what led to the release of the boys and what condition are they in. day boys were released after serious. according to what we know what we hide on 3 levels because do it held by different groups. in different

places then they do for the association was part of been the position government in. power. to negotiations with the bundy's boys are still. to be small meant but chosen few does it appeared 6. had p. and the government in good condition it is not clear our way out yet to kinda boys . to see to go because really hot depressed and wanted to hug and look at the boys and then maybe see something to them i used to. this morning b.d. might be to kinda boys to rock or to not what the government said. but the kitchen to nick tried that day in good health condition and then deal with

t. ted been before inviting death parent behind them over 100 and over i would unite them with us president bill harley has repeatedly claimed that vocal harami is quote technically defeated but the extremist group now claims responsibility for this kidnapping what does that tell us about their presence and strength in the region. tell us what many. kept saying that boko haram has not been technically defeated because when they came out and claimed responsibility it is a 5 minute speech. a kind of relationship between despondent go on and on for kid not. cut to rust with the book with how rum because if you. remember there was a time when you can. send them an invitation quote mine journos so that we can do

despite so too many nigerians is too strong but to some and the least and even the good men this said no we're led to do we have any bomb blast in nigeria where the use children to set up this is only a few attacks that you see too many as i said. is too strong in nigeria because to the brick helpful and deadly raid can help work within the community to w.'s interests and of the thank you very much sports news now bahrain unix robert lewandowski has won the best men's player of the year award after scoring $55.00 goals in all competitions last season he beat previous winners for shana ronaldo and leona messi to the prize in full how byron seal a champions league bundesliga and german cup treble it's the 32 year old 1st global

award meanwhile england defender in the bronze to the women's prize 29 year old won the champions league with me on an august before moving to manchester city. and major league baseball has corrected a past wrong by incorporating statistics from what were known as the negro leagues into its own record books before 947 laws at the time major league baseball segregated over 3000 black baseball players competed in the negro leagues between 120 and 948 but were denied equal recognition with their white counterparts. jackie robinson broke major league baseball's color barrier in 1947 with the brooklyn dodgers although extremely talented many baseball fans back fin did not regard robinson is the negro leagues best slugger josh gibson who reportedly hit between 800 in 1000 home runs and pitcher satchel paige a 5 time all star in the negro leagues were both considered more talented page went

on to play in the major leagues but unfortunately gibson never did the true statistical achievements of negro league players may be impossible to know as the negro leagues did not compile complete statistics or game summaries despite that the league is no longer considered 2nd class thousands of negro league baseball players stats from the past have finally been validated there could be some changes in the record books in that fight only rights the past wrong. there is no record whether it's josh gibson's batting average or satchel paige is one last note that resonates with me as does the inclusion of more than 3400 players most of them dad . whose ancestors whose whose family and now point to them in the major league baseball record. major league baseball's move comes amid

a national reckoning over race in the united states and within professional sports . the hard shutdown that began for most germans this week is something performers and musicians here have been enduring much longer since early november concerts exhibitions operas and more have all been on hold the government is subsidizing artists but they say their situation is dire nonetheless. world class museums the cradle of classical music germany is a nation of culture. the government has freed up another 1000000000 euros to help artists under lockdown. you can't solve all the problems with 1000000000 euros but that was of course a very clear declaration of solidarity with the art sector by the entire federal government it's an expression of appreciation in june the minister of state for culture launched a new start for culture aid program those employed in all areas of the arts can

apply for support through their professional associations. rehearsals for a satire a few days ago the oldest cabaret in berlin the final has received aid amounting 270000 euros and has invested in state of the art equipment for air purification and other measures against coronavirus. we've installed plexiglas barriers at the bars and the co-chair. we bought our contact with faucets for the toilets. we've presented and partially implemented a digital concept that then allows us to stream productions so we've carried out this hygiene concept and way very happy about it. but not everyone has benefited from government support the culture minister has now called for another 1000000000 euros for the arts there are many other aid programs as well jazz

started put in and says freelance artists in particular need help deliver days under a critically as possible the question is really if somebody deserves it or not i do believe that artists especially if they're taking out of action by law already deserve something like short term compensation with. short term compensation is given to restaurant industry workers during lockdown for example many artists complain that the arts are not valued enough in these times. we need the arts because they hold up a mirror to us. because they create a space for discourse because they deal with the answers to the ultimate questions with values that give meaning we need the arts more than ever right now to help make sense of everything we're dealing with to meddle in. the protests for better conditions for artists and the arts will continue to call for a nation of germany is currently doing put to tears. reminder of the top story

we're following for you germany has registered more than 30000 new covert 19 infections and over 800 deaths in one day the health minister is running a loss spelling out who can get in the united front. coming up next is global $3000.00 i'll be back with more headlines at the top of the hour and from watching .

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