than respects. the state of the news line from berlin aleksei not valby to build remained behind bars the court sentences the russian opposition leader to war and then 3 years in a penal colony the judge found the ball me guilty of violating the terms of his probation while he was in germany recovering from a near fatal poisoning attack of all the supporters are calling for more protests

in the russian capital also coming out good news and the fines it against the pandemic scientists say rush us but make the vaccine is safe and effective against tobit 19 the promising trials results were published in the british medical journal the lancet. article for good to have you with us we begin in moscow where opposition leader alex a no ball me has been sentenced to 3 and a half years in prison now vali was detained last month for violating the terms of his probation he allegedly failed to check in with authorities while he was a germany recovering from a near fatal poisoning which he blames on the kremlin today's ruling has sparked an international outcry. good for the future but hearts for his wife yulia the

only good bye alexei know about he could manage before he heads to prison. earlier he told the court the charges against him were fabricated a way of intimidating his supporters. all of these offices and this cage it's not a show of strength it shows their weakness weak and they cannot jail thousands or even millions of people. looking for those. outside the cavalry arrived early in the morning. lines of riot police stood in front of the courts not to keep me in but his supporters out his d w 70 show when in moscow reportage. there is a huge police presence in the whole neighborhood around the court where alex enough by me is being tried today these police vans stand at the ready for new arrests.

as the day progressed police detained hundreds of supporters who had come to show their solidarity. a huge was no barrier to that here a small act of defiance me in g. placates arrest in these people's eyes is a small price to pay i'm not afraid to see it's. free or 4 hours in. in police. station i believe it's. closed or for my you opinion i think that. a managed school was almost killed shouldn't they be in prison. for the reasons that he was us only was they couldn't kill him. as night fell police were out in force on the streets of moscow these supporters heeding his call to go out in protest days

to which it changed. now let's talk about the international impact of this ruling was dr benjamin l. schmitz he's a transatlantic security analyst based in cambridge massachusetts mr schmidt good to have you with us the ruling has been heavily criticized in the western world beyond words of condemnation how do you think the international community should handle this situation thanks so much for having me on let's take a step back and look at the events of the past several months as your lead and discuss domestically the russian federation has cracked down on the heroic civil society actions in just pain supporters of their position leader of only into dave course the russian government sent his new volley to at least 3 years in prison on spurious probation charges that he violated his probation quote unquote after he was believed to have been. had the security services of the russian federation are widely believed to have poisoned a sort of all the with the weapons chemical agent not the chalk last fall add to

that russia's actions a broad including cyber attacks on both sides of the atlantic election interference legibly placing balinese and american service personnel in afghanistan and moscow's continued aggression towards ukraine you have a nation that continues to pose real authoritarian national security challenges to the trans-atlantic community. germany let's let's look at this example maybe a little a little closer on one hand is accusing putin of disrespecting the rule of law on the other hand there standing by the plans for the north stream pipeline that will considerably increase germany's dependence on russian natural gas how long can this balancing act continue. that's a great question i think it is really long since passed the time for berlin to give up political support of north stream 2 we saw the french government come out and call on berlin to abandon the project yesterday last week the european parliament and a 581250 basis call for this project to be stopped and we've seen in the case of nord

stream too that there really is a direct connection between what the kremlin does kremlin who operates in owns gas problem which supports and is advancing north stream to answer key to corruption we see former chancellor gerhard schroeder's on the board of gas and the current c.e.o. of the project is the former reportedly star the officer mathias varney that was specifically named in mr involving own recent anti corruption video describing the sort of characters that are in putin's orbit of corruption so i think that a key area that washington brussels need to jointly address is this address this trend of authoritarian regimes weaponized in critical infrastructure developments and authoritarian economic deals in emerging technologies to challenge western liberal democratic institutions and that's why we need science and technology and alice's paired with traditional political and economic analysis that we can that the damage of these projects and see how they can they can be mitigated both

technologically and in terms of export ing strategic corruption how to stop that in the transatlantic community dr benjamin al smith thank you very much one time thank you so much. russia's sputnik vico vaccine is around 92 percent effective that's according to a new study just published in the british medical journal the lancet the findings are based on data from a trial involving nearly 20000 people researchers also found no serious side effects associated with its use the russian vaccine consists of 2 common cold viruses that have been modified to carry the coronavirus 5 protein it can be stored at up to 8 degrees celsius making it easier to transport than the biotech pfizer vaccine. and jones is a professor of viral injury at the university of reading who reviewed the russian clinical results for the lancet he spoke to us earlier and told us why he's

convinced sputnik we is effective in the fight against the virus the numbers and will slightly over 20000 actually in the trial was big enough to be sure of the outcome and the fact that it was general protection to cross all age groups and there were no serious side effects is all old good for the facts and i think it adds to another time mentions of those that are currently licensed or used to correct the world and clearly a small manufacturing base to the to the is a little covert like seems. a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world at this hour myanmar's new military government has held its 1st cabinet meeting since seizing power the country's top general described monday's coup as inevitable the u.n. security council held an emergency session to discuss the coup but took no immediate action because the statement was not supported by all 15 council members . 6 people have died including 5 young children in a shooting in the u.s.

state of oklahoma an armed suspect was taken into custody but authorities have not identified a motive for the killings. amazon founder jeff bezos is giving up his role as c.e.o. of the company and moving to the role of executive chair in the 3rd quarter in a note to employees bezos said he will stay engaged in important company decisions but he plans to focus more of his time on side projects such as his space exploration company his newspaper the washington post and his charities the e-commerce giant said he'll be replaced by the who runs amazon's cloud business well for more on the surprise announcement let's bring in d.w. financial correspondent jim acosta from new york this comes as the company reports a surge in 4th quarter profit and revenue why is bezos choosing to step down now.

yeah maybe it's the best time to leave or to give over the helm when a business is strongest for the 1st time ever in amazon's history they had a quarterly revenue of more than $100000000000.00 actually it was about $125000000000.00 but clearly a move that hardly anybody saw coming on wall street just based as founded in 1994 rumor has it that he had the idea for amazon when he drove by car from new york to his parents in seattle well he had enough time to think about something during that journey and to transform timers into one of the most successful and powerful companies on the planet and he himself became one of the richest persons on earth but definitely a pretty surprising move and in about 6 months he will give over the helm to andy jessy what can you tell us about it and. who is he

now well i mean he joined them isn't in 1997 so also one of the early employees from that company and in the past couple of years he was responsible for the vastly growing cloud computing business a w. s. what we do not know clearly is some how his management style might change if he has different priorities than jeff bezos. but he definitely is not unknown to the employees he's by the way in his early fifty's so a tiny bit younger than just places how is wall street responding to jeff bezos stepping down this is a major move after. it definitely is so we got this news after the market already got close but if you look at the after market reactions the stock is slightly trading to the upside so let's see what wall street

will be doing with this news was this. development after they had time to sleep one night over this breaking news at amazon right go to from new york thank you very much. a 2nd test flight by a space x. the latest starship prototype has ended in a fireball the same the still rocket managed a successful takeoff at high altitude tests in texas but went up in flames upon landing the last prototype met a similar fate in december and a webcast of the latest test flight the company said it had a great flight but still needed to quote work on their landing a little bit captain sir tom moore walked his way into the hearts of the nation as he raised money for u.k. health care workers during the pandemic now the world war $2.00 veteran has died at the age of $100.00 after testing positive for covert 19 to 2 other medication he

was taking he hadn't been able to have a covert vaccine. during the 1st wave of the coronavirus pandemic captain tom morris set out to raise 1000 pounds for britain's national health service by walking 100 laps of his backyard before his 100th birthday his quest went viral and donations poured in from around the world totaling some 33000000 pounds more told d.w. how stunned he was a centrist absolutely amazing that a lot of money was the roads and so john only the closers there's a really good one for him to raise the source of all they think. by the arrival of his centennial birthday captain tom was an international celebrity. he wrote an autobiography which he dedicated to all those who serve on the front

line of any battle. at windsor castle queen elizabeth the 2nd knighted him for what he did accomplish with his walks. his sunny attitude during the pandemic has inspired people to look beyond their illness and loss. i think groups throughout the world. believe that it includes those all new people well. it is no no and maybe you saw the news but i would say to everyone. things will go but there's no doubt that wrongdoers will rule out onto the drugs some who will go on. what a great man for many of us living under a pandemic lockdown life has begun to feel a lot like groundhog day but today actually is groundhog day the 134 year old american tradition of predicting the coming of spring with the help of an oversized

rodent took place as always and punxsutawney pennsylvania but this time without the spectators the famous furry many are ologist apparently did see his shadow during the ceremony that means 6 more weeks of winter according to folklore not great news for the snowed in east coast of the u.s. but the ground hog's handlers promised a beautiful spring once the season changes. you're watching d.w. news live from berlin up next is news africa i'm a fairly for me and the entire rest of the team thanks for tuning in. to the fire who've got time and in the end this is the me you're going to love to stay here and we will send you back. are you familiar with. the smugglers with lions and. what's your story ready ready.

i'm working on was women especially of victims of violence. take part and send us your story your train. and the stand this new coach. for you are not the visitor not the years you want to become citizens. in full migrants your platform for reliable information. this is t.v. news africa on the program today closed for business zimbabwe's informal safe so has been so. forced into prolonged closure as the government tries to control the spread of covert 19 in the country small business owners say they're in distress. of south africa's sick to begin vaccinating its health with is often the 1st 1000000 call that 900 vaccine doses arrived in the country.

one of africa's biggest pirates has just released a new song with a timely message will be joining me to talk about it. hello i'm christine one it's good to have your company zimbabwe is going to be one of the 1st countries to receive vaccine aid from china the chinese ambassador to zimbabwe made the announcement in a tweet where he said the vaccines will be received quote soon close quote now the news comes as the zimbabwean government extended its lockdown because office and called the infections and deaths 2 thirds of the country's $1200.00 fatalities are from january alone now the extent of lockdown includes

a 12 hour long curfew and the closure of all non-essential businesses now subways informal workforce makes up about 85 percent of the country's total workforce the extended lockdown is a never a big blow to workers most of them who are self-employed privilege has this report . everson checkup is a motor vehicle space dealer in downtown haddadi but he's now struggling to provide for his family he can't open his shop jus to lock down restrictions his only source of income has been lost to furthur of 2 he can now only visit his shop from time to time checking for any possible break ins with nurses. and we are in distress we survive from the shops there's no other job he says running his shop to see what have you most of his food now with

a look down that we are helpless. and. the usually busy downtown harare will remain closed for another 2 weeks the government extended the lockdown which began in early january and now expected to end mid february this strict national log down has seen many businesses shutting down the government was forced that to impose a 30 day lockdown because of a spike in 1000 cases or only essential services like your hospitals pharmacies and supermarkets are being allowed to operate their majority of citizens are not formally employed most survive on street trading a lockdown just means a total struggle zimbabwe's economy was in a crisis even before corby 1000 struck years of a hyper inflation acute shortage is

a foreign exchange and power outages have brought down the country. if you say you know dani's bikies ok. but we're going to get food. you're young and ripping your energy is putting us down. for you to see it is necessary to keep the country under lockdown 2 laws in fiction cases and debts. for government ministers here in the past fortnight. citizens like it will soon check up i'm now hoping for vaccines that could slow down virus cases for the economy to fully open up again. south africa's president says the country has passed the peak of its 2nd coronavirus infection wave but that the virus it remains a major problem on monday south africa received the 1st 1000000 doses of the

vaccine the vaccines will be given to the country's health workers over the next 3 months a further 12000000 doses secured through the. kovacs initiative are expected in march. this looks like a state visit by foreign dignitary. the guest of honor south africa's 1st spache of the past of seneca vaccine produced in india. president cyril ramaphosa and top officials welcomed at all our tumble international airport. later in an address to the nation the president struck a cautiously optimistic note. there are dr of these vaccines contains the promise that we can turn the tide on this disease that has cost so much devastation and hardship in our country and across the world.

though infection rates are steadily declining south africa has been hard hit not least because of the new more transmissible variant. the contrie has had the highest number of infections and the highest death toll on the continent nearly 45000 have lost their lives. the 1st doses will be given to health workers stretched to their limits doctors and nurses have in particular been badly affected they have criticised the government of being too slow in securing the back scenes. but many south africans are also skeptical about getting the jap so the president reach out to them to. nobody would be forced to take this vaccine i want to repeat nobody will be forced to take this vaccine.

the arrival of the 1st vaccines provide a glimmer of hope but there's still no date yet for when the wider national rollout will begin. till then the government will keep testing as many as possible. and hope by the end of the year 2 thirds or something africans. were. very. clear that was held africa's volver youth choir and i'm delighted to say that i'm joined by the manager and one of the vocalists to talk more about this is the artistic director of the choir and scented eventually is one of the climb in this out welcome to you both so excited to have you on the program so many people remember your choir at that went viral after a performance on season 14 of america's got talent we've now just been listening to a new song and ralph maybe you could just tell us

a little bit about that the missile just really can't get vaccinated what was your motivation in putting this song together yeah i think i mean we feel that if we want to give the world back to the sense of normality we have to embrace that's a nation that's a very powerful tool so the only tool to knock over. probably the most important one this points and we need to do a lot to encourage people to accept the vaccine and to go and didn't encourage their families to do it you know. because being like the rest of the world and thousands of people have died and lost loved ones and been sitting there also like to point out when we make this video you know all the choruses are regularly tested it's almost like a sports team. with a league meeting as artists at least once a month. and you know all kinds of particles are observed but we just want to do something cool something fresh and just people positive about the vaccine yes i did i wanted we're hearing that there's

a lot of skepticism in south africa about the vaccine i wondered if if some of the people that you knew were skeptical about being vaccinated and some of the reasons that they're giving for that. yeah i think you plead innocent on the still used. people that are in the community it's every week i know it's early. and that's why we need to point that. indeed and it's not our 1st time doing such events we started with the. good in taking part in this issue and you know ensuring that we were expecting to do it and making sure that people change their minds feelings big souls unions because they know the people. that i come across did a skeptic about this people did they just saw it on the boulder heard it from someone else it's just a rumor right they don't rank all of these but yet really i guess we are so we don't have too much time here but ralph just quickly i mean i imagine you had loads

coming your way before the pandemic just all of you guys been a fix it by the pandemic yeah it's been crazy and we were booked almost every day with 7 international tours quite a few tours to germany we were going to have a lovely collaboration with pizza my 5 eventually released a song with him towards the end of last year. but yeah i mean it's had a devastating effect on our turf but it's also been an opportunity for us to enter the virtual space and we've been doing live stream concerts to companies and the home and people who private functions around the world right here from limpopo south africa so in that sense it's been a wonderful opportunity trail so expand occupying time and spread the word write as i did i wonder how you have been affected by all of this right and then just how you're coping with it we're all having to adjust to this life in the pandemic what are your civilian some of your coping mechanisms. when you know having this amazing

plan now since we can bet our rehearsal space to official deployment studio in our own space in the book so now we can fiddle around with the rules but it's been very difficult and you know as choristers we are genuine the money that we get from the shows but now being able to perform from our own visual studio all over the world and that has kept us going and we also used an old i think we need rice right and that is sending a much older thank you so much guys for for that great to have you on and i am still will be dancing to the tune off their facts and made it. thank you very much sense i mean. i'm. not sure if you.

want. to. cut. and that is a point i'll be sure to check out our i was stories on dot com forward slash africa we're also on facebook and on twitter today we'll leave you with pictures of thankful for you quite doing what they do so well inspiring as we'll see you next

time. i'm. not sure if you. what global play against harmless to the body but is still disastrous. fake news. counterfeits on the web paralyze democracy threaten the economy and are striving business good profits from them and how do they infect

a song made in germany. in 60 minutes on t w. we've got some hot tips for your bucket list. manticora. hot spots for some. and some great cultural memorials to boot. travel we go. from. holland protest in the netherlands at the start of the year people venting their anger against corona virus restrictions demanding politicians to come up with a long term strategy to deal with a pandemic. easier said than done. in the chinese city of $100.00 total lockdown broke the chain of infection today things are almost back to normal in the city

where the pandemic began. while most countries in europe opted for temporary lockdown measures with mixed results some countries like sweden decided to go easy on the economy with many elderly bearing the brunt. and populist governments around the globe basically ignore the virus altogether again pushing up their country's mortality rate. and economies and people are suffering all the same it's time for a silver bullet that ends the pandemic. hello and welcome to our coby 19th special on d.w.i. monica jones in berlin which is still in lockdown case numbers are going down slowly but the virus is still very much active so what's next could the no covert strategy be the answer to our press here's what it's about. a new plan proposed by scientists in germany aims to do more than just flatten the curve it

could already kate corbett 19 and help get things back to normal their plan basically consists of 3 elements. first they suggest that the government should enact a rigid and efficient lockdown measures could include a stay at home orders travel bans and the closure of schools and kindergartens as well as all non-essential institutions factories and shops. government programs should be introduced to secure people's livelihoods apart from that all contact should be reduced to an absolute minimum the lockdown would stay in place until the number of new cases dropped police iraq areas that don't register any new infections would be declared green zones in those zones the scientists say restrictions would be lifted and life would gradually return to normality. to prevent the virus from entering

a green zone travel restrictions and quarantines would be imposed as well the green zones would gradually expand and merge until individual countries and ultimately europe would be packed to normal. to keep infection numbers down or sororities would trace contacts expand testing and isolate new cases and local outbreaks of new infections would be controlled by strict measures and quarantined. the scientists say they are no covert strategy would be the best way to restore moral and fight coronavirus fatigue instead of in effect defrocked on measures that keeping extended it would offer a clear path towards normality. now earlier i spoke to professor alone a kickbush a much sought after global health consultant who the renowned medical journal the lancet refers to as a global health reform up and i asked her about her take on this no covert strategy

i think the key thing is that we are looking for a sustainable strategy that involves the population that is motivating and that brings the different societal forces together we want to work together towards you know we want to create green zones that allow people to live an ordinary life and we want to do away with this simplistic contradiction between the economy and people's lives because they really enter twines in so many ways so be a very keen to say this is a positive a motivational strategy and if we look to a stranger and see how people are living their lives now even organizing the australian open with thousands of spectators then it is this

motivational goal that we want to work to right now before we look to stray let's 1st dissect a little bit to the sustainable approach i believe that this no cut it strategy aims for an infection rate of below 10 percent why are these 10 percent suddenly coming from why why 10 percent. well it's the various calculations from the model that help us understand that because then of course the infection rates are pushed down the reproduction rates are low and we actually get an exponential reduction of infections and that also means that people can be traced if there is an infection then there are enough resources to actually try and find out who else where the infection has come from who else this person has been in contact

with so it becomes a really manageable system it becomes transparent and one can work with each individual that is infected the larger your numbers are the more difficult it is to have a tryst tracing strategy and that's of course then in turn increases the incidence . once a region is below those 10 percent this distracted she says it is a green zone but how do you keep that green zone contained do you do you close borders again to keep people from red zones out of their. well that is the strategy the strategy is even to have a sort of competition that people want to get their everyday life back and if you're in the green zone that means if you act responsibly that you can actually move around again you can't let go of all restrictions we do recommend

that for a significant period for example even in green zones people still wear masks but yes it is a strategy as we've learned from other parts of the world that the contained area the green zone is you know the interaction the mobility has to be reduced specif course we have to be realistic so one of the things of the whole of society strategy is that a green zone might have a factory or a company that has many people who work for them in the red zone so we need to clear testing strategies a cooperation with those companies a lot of these things can be managed but there needs to be not only the political will to manage it but also the will of all the other societal actors exactly i think this is a very important point you mentioning there that everybody the people especially

included have to support the strategies you've mentioned australia as a good example now if we have good examples and what you say sounds so easy to do why are 2 foreign teams just adopting it and doing it. well to some extent there is a climate that 'd seems to hinge. we always have a tendency to discuss what qantas bitta we have a tendency to say we are different you know one says oh be continent from taiwan because they're an island i mean taiwan is 24000000 people who live very close to meet each other so you know you can compare it to the u.k. that has enormous high infection rates and is also an island at least influences so i think we have to be much more willing to learn and we have to be willing to innovate to bring the societal forces together and to say you know we

want to do this and i think that this whole approach we are in this together i must say lived in a stranger for a while this is what has most impressed me that people have said you know this is for all of us this is not just for me but if my i do my bit we all are going to benefit and i myself am going to benefit because i can go to the express or shop next door. professor kickbush they're a much sought after as mentioned global health consultant from switzerland there thank you so much for your time and let's hope that this new strategy will overcome people's fatigue with a lockdown thank you very much for having me. so let's remember we're all in this together and let's not forget there's also

a vaccine available now that brings us to alice science correspondent eric williams who will answer one of fuel questions now. how long will it take for countries to vaccinate significant parts of their population. a couple of factors will play roles here the big hurdle at the moment is to produce enough doses to vaccinate 2 thirds of the world's population so so over 5 and a half 1000000000 people manufacturers of the vaccines approved so far say they can provide a significant fraction of what's needed to do that by the end of 2021 but not all of it making vaccines is a complex process and as we've seen in the last few weeks a lot's can go wrong in production but hey it's still only early february right and don't forget several other vaccines are also approaching the regulatory finish line

i'm confident that in some places at least widespread vaccination will be the rule by say july or august heck the way israel is going it will be a lot sooner than that but reaching goals in other countries will be challenging as was all too predictable and despite the kovacs initiative it's already clear that wealthier countries that bankrolled vaccine development efforts and placed early orders will be 1st in line when it comes to distribution my guess is it will be pretty much impossible for many poorer nations to make significant progress in vaccinating their populations for at least 6 months simply because most of vailable supplies will be snapped up quo. plate logistics will also pose a challenge as some of the approved vaccines require high tech cold chains

so i'd say the answer to the question of how long it'll take for countries to vaccinate widely depends very much on the country some will do it in in months i think and others it looks like it'll take at least a year and possibly more than one. there is williams there and he'll be back to answer more of your questions again tomorrow so keep them coming that's it for today for me in the team thanks for watching stay safe. why are people forced to hide in trucks. muck. there are many reasons such. there are many answers. the

phone. and there are many stories. that. make up your own my. mother. told you made for mines. eco india. how can a country's economy grow and harmony its people violent when there are do worse than look at the bigger picture india a country that faces many challenges and whose people are struggling to create a sustainable future clever projects from europe and india eco. pod d.w. . every day counts for

us and for our planet. global ideas is on its way to bring you more conservation. how do we make single screen. how can we protect habitats. we can get difference. ideas environmental series if you will be $3000.00 on t.w. gone. welcome news from the world of arts and culture a renowned photographer has documented different aspects of life during the corona pandemic in pictures more in a minute also coming up today. the former artistic director of the berlin dieter costly brought the stars to berlin and has written a book about his time running the film festival. and british figurative sculptor

jethro crap has a new commission can you guess who it is. that you know biscotti is a well known photojournalist here in germany who has documented many significant world events in a long and distinguished career but he says he has never experienced anything like the current corona pandemic so for the last year he's traveled up and down this country documenting different aspects of the pandemic in a photo diary which he posts on instagram. snapshots of a nation behind the mask people keeping their distance people who are unsettled and learning to adapt germany under the coronavirus from a variance of berlin from hamburg to saxony in a photo diary that began on march 15th 2020. 5 never seen anything like it

i photographed difficult situations in russia in yugoslavia but i've never seen.