admirers and critics alike now is the world's most powerful woman shaking her ticket joining us from eccles last stop. this is the news live from a little warning for critics of china's coronavirus narrative the citizen journalist branded a troublemaker for reporting on the outbreak pays the price for speaking out also on the program. european coronavirus vaccinations begin for questions about why production of the drug can't be speeded up. donald trump taps down from his threat

to veto a $900000000000.00 coronavirus relief bill so why did the outgoing president change his mind. i'm sure welcome to the program chinese citizen journalist john has been sentenced to 4 years in prison for reporting on who has covered 1000 outbreaks during the early months of the pandemic and was detained in may after posting videos criticizing the government response lawyers for the 37 year old say she's been on hunger strike and is in poor health. eluding police pushing journalists back outside the court building for yet another journalist was being sentenced. 4 years behind bars for citizen journalists. the charges picking quarrels and provoking trouble john has been in prison since may she went on

a hunger strike and her lawyers claim she was force fed through a nasal tube. after i explained to her what kind of punishment she could expect she was determined to follow through with her hunger strike come what may. i reminded her of the risks but she said she knew in her heart what she was doing was right. during the lockdown and john john put up critical posts on twitter and you tube both blocked by the chinese government her reports dealt with everyday problems in hospitals and official corruption jon jon is one of several citizen journalists who ran afoul of the authorities in. this way but there are many similar cases of human rights abuses in china you never hear from these people again some are allowed to go home others disappear john john is the only one to actually end up in court. the government has reacted harshly to any criticism of its handling of the coronavirus

outbreak it appears determined to stop journalists like john john from muddying the official message that its response was both swift and effective the w.'s clifford community has reported from china for many years and can tell us more welcome cliff tell us more about what john john did that got her into so much trouble well basically what happened was up the pandemic broke out there was. there was one narrative which is the official government narrative saying that everything was under control that china had been timely in issuing information and in starting the lockdown which wasn't the evidence that was seen on the ground in some cases and so she reported on this and so by challenging this narrative she she she brought attention to some deficits and the response you know was a you know very effective response in many ways so that's what she's being punished for now well despite the attention. case is getting she's not the only citizen journalist a full view with or says no i mean does 3 others on trial around who han there's

change. should find b.n. and lead. but we also have his font of bloomberg journalist she's been arrested accused of endangering national security and it's part of a broader picture of a crackdown on journalists with china had $47.00 journalists in jail this year which is one less than last year which puts a very near the top of the or at the top of the number of journalists in jail so it's part of a broader picture of china keeping a very very tight control on the media particularly in relation to stories about the pandemic so given that today given that china now has the virus largely under control why have the authorities gone after these people well in some ways it seems counterproductive because they have done such a good job and actually maintaining keeping the pandemic under control and they had a. of lockdown but it was very popular in china and people are happy now that they can operate and normally i think with what we're seeing here is very much

a power play that it's a reminder that china is very keen to keep a lid on on media freedoms and it's also the time of year around christmas for some reason does you see a lot of legal activity in china we also have because then they know that the west is not going to be really watching as closely you know so you have people like the the hong kong used to try to escape to taiwan who were arrested they're going on trial 10 of them are going on trial today and change and as well so it's part of a broader picture i think of of china showing particularly now as it's coming out of the pandemic and there's a new president coming in in the u.s. the china is showing its strength clip it couldn't thank you for that for take a look at some of the source not making news around the world a saudi court has sentenced prominent women's rights activist john i'll have little to 5 years and 8 months in prison according to local media zoloft lul has been held

since 2018 along with other activists who campaigned for women to be allowed to drive a part of a sentence has been suspended meaning she could be released in february. police in cameroon say at least 37 people were killed when the bus they were traveling in hit a truck and plunged into a ravine 10 women and 4 children are among the dead the bus was on its way to the capital down day from the west of the country. european union member states have given provisional approval to the post trade agreement with the united kingdom allowing tariff free trade with britain to continue when it leaves the single market on january the 1st the deal still needs to be ratified i think you know parliament which is expected to happen in february. ok ordinated mass vaccination drive against covered 19 has begun across the e.u. thousands of people have not received the biotech pfizer vaccine limited supplies

of the drug me member states prioritizing medical staff nursing home and the elderly the shortage has sparked debate within germany where there are now growing calls for the government to step in and ensure quicker production of the vaccine human health minister says the government is working with biotech and funds to provide additional production capacity but stressed the process can be rushed so let me know by now i'm advised that some people have the impression that vaccine production is one of the most complicated and challenging fields in the pharmaceutical industry could just simply be ramped up at will in the coming weeks to start producing extra vaccine doses elsewhere in germany or europe to do this preparations need to be made those preparations are underway and our goal is to soon be producing additional vaccine in coordination with my own site in my book so that 6 or. 7 helmets against brown. after delaying a decision for nearly

a week u.s. president donald trump signed into law a $2.00 trillion dollars pandemic relief and spending package the president backed down from his threat to veto the bill. from these demand that congress increase stimulus checks for struggling americans from $600.00 to $2000.00 the president had previously condemned spending plans as a disgrace the bill will now restore unemployment benefits to millions of it's a shutdown of government services. u.s. policy policy analyst and liz showcase a form of bomb a campaign official she joins us from berlin a welcome to d w why has president trump changed his mind you think when trump launched his kind of that opposition to signing this bill into the stands at the $2000.00. he both wanted to garner all the attention in the rio as well we

really thought he had the backing that frankly just was not there are republicans on the hill are signaling they are tired of this political theater there's incredible pressure from folks at home say this is not the time to volley politics back and forth it's time to bring real relief to real families and so i think rather than kind of getting in the fray risky is he saw they didn't have the support and had to back down from his stance right so $2.00 trillion dollars that sounds like a lot of money do you think this is going to be end of it or will there be further relief missions. well justify you're going to vote on a standalone bill get perhaps an additional. 40100000 folks to to bring it back up to that 2000 and it's going to be in the house with democratic who are it's to be determined how the republicans rely on it i think throughout the process this has been hashed work measure and rather than looking at this is a long pandemic and even with the vaccines rolling out the impact on the economy is

going to be thought for years so i think it's undeniable there is going to be further measures down the line to product small business is extend unemployment and help struggling local governments and this is been a biden commitment as it biden has talked about that this is it the end that he's going to come in strong he's going to focus on working families and i think a lot of democrats have already signaled the most recent code it really had nothing for student loans had not been for local governments and a and stout that it was really under certain small businesses and so i think they see a lot of gaps that can still be. double doable it's been said that one of the reasons that donald trump objected to this was because he's perhaps eyeing a campaign in 2024 i do believe think republican party would welcome such a campaign from him. that's an interesting question and one i think the republican

party is crowley when it i would not be surprised to see a trump campaign in 2024 i'm not sure it would be done i don't himself or perhaps a trance except there i think the republican party has 4 years to really look in the mirror into saturday yes this got them a lot of attention and their own lot of i mean trump is an incredible political operative so it guarded them a lot of things that they wanted but also an incredible cost any incredible risk to american democracy so i think there are a lot of people who have been buying your time in the republican party who are going to step up and say that nearly cost us everything we can't go back down that road talking to thank you for joining us and us policy analyst additional. and you're having me. the global health budget c has so many sports events of course including the biggest of all of this year's summer olympics has been postponed to

next year old denies this insists the tokyo games will go ahead next year but not everyone shares that confidence. here limp it brings up back in tokyo a sign of hope that the 2020 games will likely take place despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. we want everyone to feel that the tour you are going picks will happen next year. the excitement leading up to the games was our last when the pandemic hit breaking news the 2020 olympic games will be postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic the olympics and speed of fun talk your battle ensues yachts white house and i don't sponsor. a decision that was long overdue and many athletes had already said they wouldn't attend but the international olympic committee and its president seemed to lack that clear response at times they came across as clueless. we don't have

a blueprint we have no experts to refer to. the athletes initially remained pragmatic they trained in the living rooms but a year without any competition pushed them to the limit both financially and mentally if. the organizers remained confident i.o.c. president thomas patton claimed to have a set of covert 1000 countermeasures at his disposal he send a message of hope to the athletes directly from the olympic village in tokyo you will never ever forget these moments in the olympic village in all your life but there is a catch. they're all up they want to be considerate to the athletes are good we don't want the village to get crowded and the games are done he wants the athletes to leave as soon as possible this. deal going to games will look very different from previous ones they will be hygiene measures in place and perhaps and

a limited number and no spectators at all and. the uncertainty is a huge blow even for the locals nearly 13000000000 euros have been spent on the game so far 2 to 1000000000 alone on the postponement many locals are starting to question if it makes sense to hold the games at all and. a large number have already returned their tickets to cope with $1000.00 has brought a new level of uncertainty is one that will decide if the games will come to pass at all. swiss tennis star roger federer will miss the australian open for the 1st time in his career as he continues to recover from 2 rounds of need surgery according to his agent 39 year old federal housing type competitively since the last australian open in january he's currently trading at his off season base in dubai demick means the australian open has been delayed until the 8th of february

federal hopes to return to competitive terms of the month the fine for a time and if you know world number one is now in 5th place in the a.t.p. world right things. as if you're up to date i'll have more here at the top of the hour up next i'm going to just as a business of day to day. i'm scared that the volume or the tart and in the end is a me you're not allowed to stay here any more we will send you back. are you familiar with this. with the smugglers were alliances of the what's your story.