this is the wus live from berlin julian assange has to stay on british soil avoiding extradition to the united states is supposed to celebrate british jumps back at the wiki leaks founder on the grounds that an extradition would be oppressive to his mental health history and remains in prison a decade after his 1st arrest. also coming up britain open opens

a 2nd front against the coronavirus the country begins ministering vaccine number 2 developed by oxford university and drug maker astra zeneca. and here in germany government is under fire for its coronavirus strategy with infections remaining stubbornly high on vaccinations off to a sluggish stop the country's knocked down is said to be extending. welcome to the program british judge has ruled that wiki leaks founder julian assange cannot be extradited to the united states to face spinoffs charges that the judge said extradition would be oppressive to his mental health your strain could have faced up to 175 years in prison if convicted of violating the u.s.

acts we'll speak to one of those lawyers in a moment but 1st let's take a look at how this day unfolded. no sooner had means trickled out of the court room the supporters begun celebrating and chanting. the static that after 10 years of legal fights they had some form of victory. we welcome today's decision we are relieved that mr sands will not be extradited to the united states we share concerns about his health and his mental health we have been highlighting this for quite some time that he has been vulnerable that we have we have stated and i'll repeat today that his extradition was a possible matter of life or death. earlier songes team began the day with a lot expectations. from. his fiance had called on donald trump to pardon the father of her 2 children. he arrived to the court in the back

of this high security bag. inside the courtroom the judge dismissed most of us and his defense for she conceded that his mental health was such that to extradite him would be oppressive. of my she said many people legal battle began with a video that shocked the world classified footage of us at patchy attack helicopters killing iraqi civilians and journalists released by a song of more shape and understanding of what the past 6 years avoids being why. the u.s. accused him and wiki leaks of being enemy combatants for the past decade 3 ficken fear in asuncion always maintained he was a journalist. the saga is not over yet the u.s. government said it will appeal today's decision. and we are planning to talk to one of the. lawyers right now but we have technical problems and lost the

connection we'll try to reestablish that talked a bit later in the show. the 1st immunizations with a newly approved astra zeneca covert $900.00 vaccine have begun in the united kingdom with its developers hailing a cheaper products they say will be easier to distribute the shop was developed in cooperation with oxford university a multinational pharmaceutical company astra zeneca and joins the list of inoculations at the time the virus is raging across the u.k. . a milestone for britain as it became the 1st country to administer the oxford astra zeneca vaccine more than half a 1000000 doses have been made available for the 1st 24 hours alone it comes as britain struggles with a surge in corona virus infections including a highly contagious variant this 82 year old was 1st in the queue for the jab.

to more. normal. this forces. and it was a proud moment for this oxford alumnus who was next in line. it is it's wonderful to be able to tell. people. quickly as quickly as you can. britain has called it a scientific triumph the shot is less expensive and is easier to store than other coated 19 vaccines. but some are proceeding with caution it has yet to be approved in the e.u. and france's data for the jab is insufficient you spoke with a viral just in the u.k. who said the information has not been made available. today out of that media group for this vaccine is only belonging to the government that is not publicly available

and according to the government is like this that if the 1st nose is given the person there is our own 70 percent efficacy and then if it is the 2nd those given that it would be around 80 percent efficacy. at 3 months but that is something that we haven't seen the debt as so therefore all is in error and we don't really know how ethical issues would it be particularly after the 1st dose. the european medicines agency has said it is unlikely that the astra zeneca vaccine will be approved for the e.u. in january. let's take a look now at some of the other developments in the coronavirus pandemic japan is considering considering a state of emergency to slow the spread of the virus in greater tokyo the surge in infections has raised more doubts about what the talk you will be able to host the olympics this summer to south africa has announced a plan to begin immunizations next month standing arrival off its 1st vaccines the

country is the worst hit on the continent and australia's most populous states new south wales is with 140 local coronavirus cases the state into sydney where residents can be fined on the spot if they don't wear masks in public. well germany's build newspaper and the reuters news agency are reporting that a chancellor merkel's government and regional leaders have agreed to extend the country's lockdown till the end of january head off a planned meeting tomorrow between the chancellor and 16 regional leaders weeks of tougher restrictions on public life have so far failed to effect if we bring down infection rates and the country's vaccination program has gotten off to a sluggish start. appeals to stay home seem to have little effect in this western german winter resort town a ban on entering the ski runs failed to deter large numbers of people from hitting the slopes at the weekend so many that police intervened stopping winter enthusiastic in their tracks. germany's government together with the heads of its

regional states must decide on how to proceed with anti coronavirus measures there's consensus that a lockdown will have to remain in place beyond january 10th the very it wants it extended by at least 3 more weeks so answer numbers are still too high and we're not yet able to assess how the situation has developed over christmas new year and especially through the large numbers of travelers returning home that's why it would be irresponsible to relax the locked and now it should be extended until the end of january looked on the on or off or linger. on choose day state heads will discuss how long the lockdown should be extended for and whether the current measures should be adjusted states with lower infection numbers want to shorten up time while those harder hit want measures toughened. we need to act in those areas that are most affected in this case that saxony and. so will be toughening measures for our schools and child care facilities in tow

january 31st just as will be done with public life will be increasing restrictions even more than a key topic on the agenda is whether nurseries and primary schools should be closed some argue that young children struggle with online learning. germany central government remains skeptical about where the physical teaching in schools is a good idea. for more on this story joined by political correspondent. hans if you can hear me germany's biggest newspapers and our writers as well are reporting that the lockdown will be extended what more can you tell us . well that just confirms what we've been hearing over the last couple of days leaks from the prepared to discussions that have been going on for days and various reports that it seems almost certain that the locked all will be extended to the end of january obviously there have been meetings going on between various

officials today for instance the education ministers of all the 16 regions in germany met to discuss what should happen in schools i'm going to makeovers morning meet with what she calls her corona cabinet that has a select group of ministers together with various aspects who are just experts who discuss various aspects of the corona situation so all of these discussions going on head of what's going to happen tomorrow this meeting between angular malco and the regional leaders from germany 16 federal states and only then will be a final decision taken and those meetings have been characterized in the pause oh as long as the bates so it's by no means certain what is being reported today is going to be decided tomorrow. and has been a look criticism in recent days of the merkel government's vaccine rollout let's have a look at this piece of graphics that we've prepared the country that's administered the most doses 100 people in the world is israel's or defense needed nearly 13

percent of its population that's followed by bahrain the u.s. the u.k. the u.s. and denmark rounding out the top 5 germany higher max needed less than 0.3 percent of its population and if you'd only 9 on that list how could germany so spectacularly missed the boat on vacillations. well i'm not sure if you can say that it has missed the boat what you can say is that germany started quite a lot later than some of these countries that were just listed such as the u.k. and the united states because germany and all other countries in the european union waited for a formal approval of the 1st vaccine the one that is being used at the moment that is the vaccine the one by a bot by on tech that is very much in demand across the world and so the supply for that vaccine is limited it's also limited in germany and that has been the center of the criticism that the german government could have or should have done more to provide more larger numbers of doses at an earlier stage than has been the case so

far but at the same time i think there is some sense of desperation in this criticism of the german central government by some of the regional leaders because there have been struggling to get on the infection rates have not really been stuck seeding it on are hoping that in some way by vaccinating especially most vulnerable people the hospitals will be relieved and somehow eventually the vaccination will help us turn the corner but does the german government have a backup plan to make up for the shortage of doses. well the response from the german government has been that another vaccine is going to be approved most likely this week that's the one from well done and as soon as that is the case a very large number of additional doses of vaccination will be available that will then mean that even more people will be able to get such a vaccine and at the same time the infrastructure for this has been in place for some time there have been some ice has been some even as an access to vaccination

centers but the german government expects that 5 the end of january things will be running smoothly and the rate of explanation will pick up substantially our political correspondent thank you for. we're coming back to our top story a british judge has ruled that wiki leaks founder julian assange cannot be extradited to the united states to face a spear nosh charges that spring in a villa she's one of julian assange his lawyers mr villa you've been on the front line of mr sampson's legal battle for years now what do you make of today's ruling well today's ruling us victory for humanity i will say even in the u.k. and even after despite its meant by process that mr sanchez suffer for years and his family suffered for years ago a glimpse of humanity arose from the from the this is one of the judge that they are deciding not to extradite him is the minimum human standard. the extradition

the denial of the extradition request because of his frail mental health what more can you tell us about his condition right now well his conditions amount to torture basically it is something that he has it has gone for him but meals most nard the un special rapporteur. arbitrary detention and start or eat is. does not diminish his value as a courageous journalist and it does not diminish his ability and capacity to leave a good life and i think that. this judgment is just the opportunity to save his life and they save his value as a person for society and it is a very sad judgement too if we consider. justice conditions have place i'd your goal is on the starch psychological and physical pressure during

a decade that's very fine in the center of power in the center of the west of the us prosecutors have indicated that they'll appeal the decision of the court are you confident that you can fend off that appeal. i think that he said i am confident that he is in a very solid position to win this case there's a precedent and a precedent that lori law of case precedent which was one own appeal and in the case of a son she's in a solid position right now and it is it is hard to question facts and it is a fact medical facts a backing is the solution is not an interpretation of the law zoli of medical facts documenting his health situation it will then merit appeal read it is shocking actually the only decent thing to do right now is to drop that case to drop that extradition request. you mentioned torture would which is

a pretty heavy allegations. is there a is there any evidence for that and b. did it play.