millions of people are expected to travel new infections have hit their highest level since last march meanwhile the netherlands is banning flights from the u.k. south africa and latin america and nationwide curfew is also under consideration and australia has recorded no cases for the 4th consecutive day new rules require visitors to test negative within 72 hours of travelling. well the u.s. president's inauguration is not the only story making news around the world today here are some of the other headlines. chinese state media reporting that aid worker trapped in a gold mine for more than a week has died as rescuers continue efforts to save 21 others 11 have been contacted but the fate of the other 10 remains unknown. to the. security forces in mali have used tear gas to disperse and dozens of demonstrators

in the capital bamako protesters were rallying against the presence of the french military france has deployed over a 1000 troops in mali says 2013 in an anti terror operation. 4 people have been killed in an explosion in central madrid on building partially collapsed in the residence of a nearby nursing home were evacuated the mayor says it appears a gas leak caused the blast. given him a serious health officials in tillage have given emergency approval to a vaccine made by a chinese company sign novak but authorities said the corona vaca jab should initially only be given to people under 60 experts said they wanted to see more data on safety and efficacy. efficacy rather for older people chileans over 60 will get the buy on tech pfizer vaccine.

twin suicide bombings have ripped through a busy market in central baghdad authorities say more than 20 people have been killed with dozens more injured according to the interior ministry the 1st suicide bomber who rushed into the market claiming to feel sick and then detonated his bomb when people gathered around him for the bombing so the 1st in 3 years to target the iraqi capital there was no immediate claim of responsibility. all right so let's cross over now to baghdad to a maya general a journalist for the a.f.p. news agency in the capital of iraq what more have you learned about what happened today thanks so much for having me one of the most devastating. now is that just well there's actually. so you just well today's twin blast now

stands at 32 with more than 110 people and it seemed just well replied steadily day there are still more than 30 people who are who are still receiving treatment in hospital so we may see that number go even higher. there hasn't been a claim of responsibility yet but i know that intelligence forces and security forces are in very intense meetings now to try to determine who the perpetrators. blasts are now this was the 1st deadly suicide attack since what 2018 i mean is there any background why now. it's an interesting question there have been many details that have been revealed so far by security agencies about the incentives or the other is inspired the attack now no one connection that people in the street and some some security officials have been making art and legislative elections that are set to take place later on this year iraq has seen similar rounds of acquirements before previous

legislative elections blast that you mentioned 2018 actually came just a few months before the most recent parliamentary election is that year and so some people are in it the connection between increased political tensions right now across the country and a potential rise and this kind of violence this morning give us a sense my of the situation in iraq in baghdad at the moment because there have been some very turbulent months that there has been turbulence in the past couple of months. certainly most of that surveillance is actually done more political or economic so there has been an economic downturn related to the boil price collapse the world saw globally last year and what was a kind of economic crisis that was felt across the country with people are seeing their jobs people singers salaries delayed but they haven't really grown accustomed to a sense of security over the past couple of years because we have an explosion and

so there is a sense of a sense of calm a sense that it could at least go back to some kind of norm and what we're hearing from a lot of the civilians caught up in the violence this morning is a fear that they could be going back to those very very dark years following the u.s. invasion in 2003 and the dark years of the islamic state spread across the country where this kind of violence was quite common and so definitely there is an over there's it was an overwhelming sense of apprehension about this being a gateway attack or potentially the 1st of many words. we hope not all right to relayer reporting from baghdad a journalist for f.p. thank you so much. went to greece where an olympic sailors testimony has forced people to confront issues of sexual abuse well sophia because through has accused a senior sports official of sexually assaulting her her testimony has sparked shock

and anger and helped others to speak out. when syfy effect it's already carried greece's flag of the 2016 rio olympics it was reward for her years long service to sailing she'd won a gold medal at her home games in athens in 2004 but even then she was burying a dark secret now she's testified to a prosecutor about her abuse at the hands of a senior greek sailing official in 1998. and i want to tell is that i hope on this occasion other women and people who have experienced sexual abuse will come forward so that our society will be more healthy and we are no longer be afraid. beckett's or testimony is a watershed moment in greece initial denials by the greek sailing federation sparked a backlash in a country where sexual harassment is considered to be beckett's already revealed her abuse during an online conference last week saying the official had performed

a quote lewd act in front of her. i told him no i repeated that i did not want to go further he joked saying it was nothing he was telling me he would stop if i didn't want to but whatever i said didn't make him stop when he finished and got off me l.f. crying and ashamed because. since beckett stories revelations many more women from sports and other walks of life have come forward with their own stories of abuse and greece's president south remeeting earlier this week has praised beckett's ora for her courage in speaking out. a 12 year old footballer from nigeria is already in the record books for his juggling skills well he's now aiming so how do his own best performance and wants to become a professional player and he has an eye usual style take a look. juggling one ball with your knees is hard enough but

nigerian 2 non-so ha does it while balancing another ball on his head. he's so good at it that he set a world record 2 years ago. 111 touches in one minute and not a single wobble from the ball on his head it looks like it's glued into place. he's only 12 and learned his skills from some football greats. nobody to show me what my father made in part in my life. but he is now an online sensation videos of his football skills have received thousands of views but not everyone took him seriously. his record changed all that. before when i 1st was close in the love not to me

what with rickles my friends said i want to be there. and the king of multitasking is not satisfied years now aiming for another world record 2000 touches all while balancing a ball on his head a career as a professional footballer is his ultimate dream you wouldn't bet against it. re certainly when you're watching do the real news coming up next andy w. news asia the china challenge should facing the united states will the new administration do way with the policies of the old. and the what to will the biden administration mean for u.s. allies in asia. and our monitor of the top story here we're following for you joe biden is regaining the 1st full day of his presidency he signed executive orders to rejoin the paris climate accord and the

road health organization and his also unveiling a new national strategy to fight the corona virus pandemic. through a strategy will take you through news asia after a very short break i want to leave you now with some images of the biden harrison argue aeration ceremony in washington don't forget you can always get the latest news sabai heading to our web site that's did have a dot com and you can follow us on twitter and instagram and d.-w. news.

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good. good. she helps the way she can. be a colleague of us supports belorussian activists who want to flee the country. their destination is neighboring lithuania. where they hope for a safe future far away from police violence and state oppression. focused on her. in 60 minutes on d w. what secrets lie behind these walls. discover

new adventures in 360 degree. and explore fascinating world heritage site. w world heritage 368 get kidnapped now. the world population is increasing the quietest. it's getting warmer and there are going to be more places where panel road critics will crawl we have to fix the way to do that is to use the modern genetics modification methods to make that a crawl it is a lot safer than anything we buy traditional kinetic modification you take one gene you know exactly what it is you put it into another plant to cook up exactly where it's gone i think we will be able to provide enough food for people by 2050 if we

can make crops to grow on me arid conditions this will be a much greater stability in the fruits of life that we have at the moment. from the. beginning with china u.s. policy under donald trump set a confrontational tone with this change and what does china want. and what u.s. allies in the region regional. countries in southeast asia expecting.

welcome to. join us now even as the united states was bringing in a new administration on tuesday china was slapping sanctions against the old $120.00 eight's top officials of donald trump's administration including former secretary of state was sanctioned by china for caught lying and cheating the measures have been described as unproductive and cynical by biden administration officials the new sanctions underline. the fraught relationship between both countries and if we needed any indication of how it can develop over the next 4 yes' president biden's nominee for secretary of state antony blinken had this to say during his senate confirmation hearing i also believe that president trump was right in taking a tougher approach to china i disagree very much with the way that he want to about it in a number of areas but the basic principle was the right one and i think that's actually helpful and there were other indications as well from blinken about the future u.s.

stance on key issues with china secretary pompei oh designated the chinese communist party as having engaged in jenna's regarding the weaker most muslim population do you agree with that as that would you my judgment as well we do agree yes there's been a strong and long bipartisan commitment to taiwan. taiwan relations act also the communiques with china and part of that commitment is making sure that taiwan have the ability. to defend itself against aggression and that is a commitment that will absolutely endure in a in a vitamins free from all i'm joined by professor steve sang his director of the china institute at the school of oriental and african studies in london professor sign welcome do you think we're looking at some sort of reset in ties between the u.s. and china. flooded chinese government like we set it less china relations

sed i think the washington side will see a continuation of that relationship but a different style. but you said that the chinese government is also looking for a reset what do you mean by that. well the chinese government really has been very unhappy with the way how the trump administration's been dealing with china particularly in the last few weeks of the trump i mean astray shouldn't be over it nice it keeps on and relaxing control but meetings between u.s. officials and the american officials as well as the classification and all of what happens in shin john as a country all for genocide when it comes to the ties between the united states and china do you think that the direction the future course of ties between these 2

nations will influence how the u.s. approaches it starts with other countries in the region. i think it will go. where i think we have to is a new administration in washington which recognizes that and decisions prior to the economy decision had been less than and tidy were estate in dealing with china and they didn't want to make the same mistakes that previous administrations have mate they've also had i think colonization didn't oppose china very effectively but they saw some of the basic strategic thinking of the trauma ministration as being. appropriate so they wanted to keep to that and how the chinese will responds to it will affect how the americans feel the state needs to react to china and engage with american and eyes in asia which are the same countries that china wants to

engage with when you talk about this new song sense of realism what ship my bedroom is and take from the bible and minister from. i think we have seen the. bite of the ministration oil indeed 'd joe biden himself it is you know who wrote a speech saying that that who'd matter us truth matters. and the chinese government has a relationship with the truth that is more civilized to do weigh how the trunk ministration had with truth and that would pose a significant problem for the biden administration so he will take a robust stance towards china but who also tries to engage with china to found ways to make things work what it and take a confrontational approach for the sake of it i don't think there's any doubt or

argument that china plays a very very board role in a very big one. but help us understand professor tying how exactly china views its role in isha well china he sees that is long term rightful place in asia is to be a leader all asia china would like itself to be perceived in asia as the benevolent big brother and the other asian countries simply running around to support china and be a community under their leadership all china that may not be the way how a lot of the countries is of east asia or indeed japan may see it but that's how the chinese government would like it to be seen as reluctant to see more confrontation between the u.s. and china or between a form different to see not of the trumpet ministration are there any areas of

cooperation from between the 2 countries. well there are areas read that 2 countries can easily cooperate for example on the issue of climate change by the administration is the verse in completely is that coach 'd one of these contests for the trial of ministration and therefore we should be quite happy to cooperate with the chinese to move things forward that's not a serious sum game but it to countries will the chinese government cooperate with it by biden initiation on. climate change that remains to be seen that movie be able to well some kind of it better economic relationship one of them focus on the terrorist war against that remains to be seated bike and he's not going to just get it out to all of the tariff rich in papers he wants this tension that goes it would depend on how the chinese respond. interesting times ahead for us professor steve

sign from soares in london thank you so much for joining us. turning now to southeastern sherm of the u.s. has had a long time military and diplomatic presence besides troops in many countries where the united states has formal defense arrangements with south korea japan and the philippines the military support is in the region with significant security concerns including china's claim over most of the south china sea the unit up in flames have often have toward of wides and small scale confrontations on the seas between chinese ships and those from other countries with competing claims in the region but this is in addition to long running tensions on the korean peninsula which jointly impact the nation between the u.s. china japan and south korea. so let's break this down further joining me now is $39.00 pongsudhirak he's director of the institute of security and international studies at the longhorn university in bangkok welcome mr pongsudhirak i realize

it's very hard to generalize about southeast asia and east asia but do countries of the region have a somewhat underlying common expectation from the new u.s. administration yes i think broadly speaking the southeast asian countries would like to see more reliability and dependability from the u.s. administration's top government autonomy straightness the ends bit erratic you know we had a trade war with china technology conflict and so on so i think there's a lot of anticipation of a new administration that maybe people can provide a lot more pieces the ability of the regions and maybe a bit of a new chapter because i think it's been great small to us during that time period however the us china technology conflict has been viewed favorably he says i think with southeast asia like you see it is something of

a balance you know it's we need all our time and autonomy stations and obama i think the u.s. left a lot to be desired regions raise a lot of expectations but unfulfilled with the pivot and rebalance and china have to go and see it during that time trial where the other way very belligerence and a bit erratic and unpredictable so i think maybe by then we hope will be something in between speaking of balance you have china that looms large in southeast asia as you also pointed out do countries in the region how does unique challenge to balance the relationship with the u.s. with ties with china even though many have tended totem disputes and disagreements but china. yes countries in the region i do not want to be dominated by china generally speaking any major power i think the region would like to see some tensions between us and china because that allows leverage you know for the

the asian smaller states at the same time they don't want to see an all right one conflict you know even a trade war that we seem to be a great fit in stable and stable and so on so we would like to see something in between. i think that china is a residential super power i think there are smaller states would like to see some kind of balance between the 2 and us in china speaking of china are danger on a plays an important role in a pleased to issues that a long running in the region one of the south china sea dispute and also it has a role to play when it comes to tensions on the korean peninsula and what it can do to potentially calm them but are we likely to see any changes in the u.s. approach to these areas of concern. remains to be seen but the the people around president biden's seem to come from the obama period so i think that

by the administration will be tested very early on and by north korea 08 season challenges there and also i think it's chinese also a test of buying an inspiration the way they did it with the obama administrations and then for southeast asia south china sea is a major hostile acts but also in mainland southeast asia the manhole regions run a macro river where china has build its upstream than laterally it's also a major issue of so i think across the region from north east asia to southeast asia number of us a lot of contentious issues by administration there will be watched very carefully what kind of people did put in charge of the reason i think that they will be more attentive to the reach of you already see some some hope for well optimistic words from the people i could campbell and so on so the early signs of call it from the vitamins nations and maybe they can be something like you know not obama 2.0 but

maybe this is a 2nd chance for life in this region to do what the obama administration tried to do with the nazi and interesting space to watch but thank you so much for joining us today a fisherman pongsudhirak. and that does it for today there's of course more on did a lot of always flash they're going to be back tomorrow off of the same time but. the fight against the corona virus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context the coronavirus update coming 19. next on t w. children to come to terms. one giant problem and nearly in no limit to the beach here

you. did 5. years in. counting. how will climate change affect us and our children our. d.w. dot com slash water. as the world faces down the coronavirus infectious disease experts are becoming central to our lives advising world leaders and so on how to survive. but these scientists just battling a virus one day the media scrutiny they're also finding misinformation politicized messaging and even personal attacks. they research information and advice is becoming even more critical as more variants emerge with

a node mutation. scientists are often happy to be behind the scenes working on experiments at trials hoping to produce a success that may end up in an academic journal one day but the pandemic has catapulted this next one from the lab into the spotlight like many of her scientific pia's. is a microbiologist embryologist at the university of costa rica and joins us now how's it feel to suddenly be at the center of government decision making well it's a difficult task because you said tend to be in the lab and do experiments and try to have. interest and because of this pandemic we have to jump in and trying to give advice and try to give our show what we know and what we can prove or not prove or have evidence for it so that's been

a difficult thing to do playing that advisory role how much time does that leave you then in the lab. we'll that's a good question actually before coronavirus i used to work with bangin seek a virus with our viruses and i have a lot of them going projects and i else would peach i mean i'm a professor so it's difficult to manage all the time too in order to read and learn everything from this new virus and to see all the tsunami of information that's coming from all the scientists all around the world and to really have time for other things actually my life right now it's like 80 percent of my they time is corner virus and like 20 per cent is peaching so i have neglected all other things it feels like that for a lot of us to tell you the truth. how how much influence do you really have as an

advisor how much of all that information that you get gets through to the politician. well that's a really good question because we science advisers have to learn that we have just percent the dates have to represent the percent evidence and to suggest things but at the end we are not the ones taking decisions just their china in politician to make a better or the best decision that he or she can make so it's kind of a difficult thing for example for me it has been really i have a lot of influence for example in diagnostics or or how we handled the seas or how we understand a virus or what's happening with all these new environments that's you said before but. the actual measures like for example up down there are economical consequence having economical consequences and it's part of what the politicians

should do so i'm not that powerful but i think that for at least here in costa rica the government has been a really good opening for all of the scientists this slot so that we can go through it and suggest what about the message of mosque spend some scientists reportedly played that down to prevent a mass public rush on mosques financial supplies to medical stuff what went wrong with it. well i think we were naive actually all of us that we used to study coronavirus before we were. we knew about coronavirus cars won and we knew that we we were able to control it so when all the cases were starting to come up in china we thought that maybe we'll this is this looks like sars maybe it's something similar maybe we can control it in the same measures that we used in

20022003 i think we were kind of hoping and naive that thinking that it was going to be like cyrus one but we were surprised actually we when we knew all at that moment after rouhani went into lockdown and after china went into lockdown that it was going to be quite a difficult time and. and i think that scientists were. kind of by us thinking that the pandemic was going to be another virus like for example a influenza virus we were actually some of us were thinking about the corner virus and there were there but we were not that. sure and i think it was a problem and the w.h.o. also was a little bit lol trying to to declare this an emergency and to to prevent we're

also seeing the same problem with the vaccine a lot of people are saying it's not 100 percent that we know 95 percent is fantastic it's one of the best sex simply that i had. if it's the best thing that we ever have the problem is that this is a wrist prick to require a cyst so the vaccine probe is not that a 100 percent effective preventing infection but it's good preventive in the seas very tedious philip patients and dying so it's a great vaccine actually it's kind of you have to wonder of these achievement of this scientific achievement that was so good and so fast and so effective actually i think it's a lot of misinformation and social. social networks that start to have this kind of of a conspiracy theories and all this stuff but it's kind of affecting how scientists . show what's going on and the and explain what's going on cable have to leave it there you know hit here thank you very much for being on the show today thank you

for having me but as well as battling surgeon coronavirus cases on top of a drawn out economic crisis a lot downs forcing thousands of people to pack up and leave which is complicating the situation for colombia. what is the moment when i mean he left the hospital he's colombian and spent 36 days in intensive care. there he saw the havoc the covert has caused in the hospitals of kuta. in general the attention of the doctors and nurses was very good. but i also saw that there are lots of left on the abandoned if you get there and you are practically left in a disposal. connected to a machine. in an effort to curb the

spread of the virus authorities closed the colombian venezuelan border but that has not stopped the flow of people non-governmental organizations estimate that some 100000 people continue to move between the 2 countries every day. they do it along illegal trails like this one where the authorities. to carry out any health checks. it puts more pressure on city hospitals some of them have reported a 100 percent bed occupancy. someone who comes infected and crosses it using these illegal trails ends up being a spreader of the virus to everyone around here. and the number of people he can affect is really impossible to calculate. coronavirus safety measures are barely respected and. many do not maintain social

distancing or even wear a mask even without the illegal border crossings if you just fear that a 2nd wave could soon hit the region that could bring the already alarming death toll in the border areas. and it's that part of the show where our science correspondent eric williams tackles your questions on the corona virus. which vaccine is currently the safest and most effective one. around 10 different vaccines are currently being given out on a pretty wide scale to people in various countries around the world but some still haven't completed trials or published all their data it would be irresponsible at this point to recommend one over others but i'm happy to take a closer look at the 2 so far that have checked all of the boxes for emergency authorization in the e.u. both are what are called messenger r.n.a. vaccines and they're the 1st ever based on this technology platform to be approved

one was code developed by the german biotech company bio untac and pharma giant pfizer the 2nd comes from a u.s. based biotech company called derna you know let's look at safety 1st and both vaccines were tested in trials involving over 30000 subjects half receive the vaccine the other half were given a placebo some of the people who got the candidate back scenes reported mild issues especially after the 2nd dose like like headache or fatigue or pain at the injection site but those usually passed quickly with with no major adverse events reported since they've been rolled out a few dozen recipients have had more serious allergic reactions to them what's called anaphylaxis but don't forget the 2 vaccines have now been administered to

tens of millions of people some deaths in fragile seniors in norway who received the pfizer buy on tech vaccine are also currently being in. investigated and recommendations in the future might also change for that small group but as of now all those candidates have lived up to expectations that they would be very safe to take possible long term the facts will only be revealed in time of course but there's no sign of any so far when it comes to effectiveness trials show the 2 pretty much neck and neck both the modena and the pfizer biotech vaccines prevented the development of covert $900.00 and around 95 percent of the people who received both doses which is an absolutely top notch result.

and we leave you with some advice from the terminator the legendary cibo kollywood star and former california governor arnold schwarzenegger was given the jap at the door just stadium drive for side in los angeles. all right that's a good move i've seen. and were recommended to anyone and everyone. come with me he will be the. off.

she helps the only way she can. tanya supports belorussian activists who want to flee the country. their destination is neighboring lithuania. where they hope for a safe future far away from police violence and state oppression. some because under a. 30 minute song d w. why

are people forced to hide in trucks. above. there are many reasons for such. there are many answers. and there are many stories. above make up your own mind up the big . job you made for mines. the coal india.

how can a country's economy grow harmony 6 people and the environment when there are doers look at the bigger picture india a country that faces. many challenges. people are striving to create a sustainable future clever projects from europe and india. on g.w. . the free j. campus for us and for our planet. google ideas is on its way to bring you more conservative place to make single screen. how can we protect capital so. we can make it to france to play good mind to the environmental series of little 3000. dollars.

place. blame. blame. and this is where we news lie from berlin down to business the new us president hits the ground running signing a flurry of executive orders and doing many of his predecessors policies joe biden rejoins the paris climate agreement but his number one priority tackling the coronavirus pandemic also coming up on the defense chance on american stresses the need for germany's tough new lockdown measures a warning to the nation we must take the new coronavirus strains seriously.