the can is rather shaky the chinese state has a lot of money at its disposal. and that's how it's expanding and asserting its status and position in the world the fish typical of course. china's gateway to europe starts feb 19th on d. w. . in south africa a corona virus variant now accounts for almost all new infections today the country halted the rollout of the astra zeneca vaccine on signs that it may not protect enough against a mutating virus tonight the corona virus is changing can the vaccines change too or should we change our expectations just how effective can the vaccines really be i'm bring gulf in berlin this is the day.

we can expect this kind of situation to even touch the pieces these viruses will seek to out with this so that sense of change they evolve to survive so the map and thinking that it's high in fact for people if we can have one being that we can expect that we will have many more in the future we continue to need bridges full of these very things from new mutations to the virus that will always rise out with us and we've just got to make sure we get a way out which is. also coming up on the eve of the 2nd impeachment trial of donald trump but there is still no consensus should a former president stand trial when he's no longer in office and why bother if there aren't enough votes to convict there's a greater danger in not prosecuting the cause by not doing it. where we're less than an ok it's all right that he did that we can go on obviously

we want to show biden well. a great movie could do it is to say you know what and talk to his friends in the house and senate state stop it it's too symbolic it's meaningless he's out of office. and to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and to all of you around the world welcome we begin the day with the pandemic and this nagging growing worry over the vaccines that we just can't seem to shake 1st the positive news in the u.s. and here in europe it appears that the peak of the pandemic may now be behind us the number of new infections hospitalizations and deaths from covert 19 remain high but are trending lower and now the worry will the new virus variants will they change that in the u.s. the u.k. variant is spreading quickly doubling the number of infections in about a week's time millions have already received either the buy on take 50 or the

mcgurn of vaccines and scientists say so far the protection seems to be holding they cannot say that in south africa today the country stopped its mass vaccination program with the astra zeneca vaccine a new study shows the vaccine offers only minimal protection against the variant which now accounts for 90 percent of all new infections so what now the w.'s adrian creature reports tonight from south africa. it was supposed to be the turning point in south africa's fight against corporate 19 the arrival of 1000000 doses of the astra zeneca vaccine last week president serum up was high and the health minister came to receive it personally but instead of being vaccinated the doses will remain in storage for now and you study suggests the vaccine appears to offer only minimal protection against mild and moderate disease from the new variants that was discovered in south africa the government's rollout plan is now on hold.

the 1st thing we want is our scientists wrist tell us what do we do with. dream that is working with what and what answer to upload it so there is no potential sense because we speak is to find out from so just how to deal with it or it is clear however that health workers will not stop receiving their vaccine as planned this week and for the rest of the population there's even more uncertainty and that is quite unfortunate because we actually thought the vaccine was going to help people especially in south africa and i do need it a lot actually i needed this in. on that note that i'd always really no vaccine means nicole would go along and that means a longer lockdown for all of us meaning people in charge meaning. when they going out. into that and then they need it less being counted out loud if they do the

homework on. top of that steam that they getting in scientist citing evidence that the vaccines prevent grave illness and death while astra zeneca said it's believed it's vaccine could protect against c.v.s. disease by religious chabi a modest says south africa could see an upsurge in infections once winter approaches he suggests knott's to completely abandon the astra zeneca jep covert 1000 vaccines in protest as any release and jane jackson. safe for most of the us safe and even though they are question marks in terms of the effectiveness of faster than a conviction against severe disease do we want to take that risk of not defects in aiding fighters groups not knowing that cannot can of course hound but it might be protective against soviet disease thought africa is now pinning its hopes on the johnson and johnson vaccine that delivered promising results against the new variant new deliveries i expected in the next weeks but in the long run it is scheduled to be manufactured in south africa. over more tonight let's bring in

lawrence young he's a viral or just a professor of molecular oncology at warwick medical school in the u.k. press are young it's going to have you on the program let me get your take is south africa right to halt the rollout of the astra zeneca vaccine well i think it's too early to have done that this small study that they produce which was only 2000 young people average age 31 shows that the ice just atika vaccine is not effective against mild or moderate disease it has no information about most of a disease and that's what we need to find out you know the study found disappointing protection in moderate and mild cases but let me ask you what about trying to prevent hospitalizations and severe cases shouldn't that be the number one priority right now. absolutely and by comparison with the other vaccines that

have been child in south africa care including the noble back. and the johnson and johnson back saying then that gives us hope because both those vaccines gave us around 60 percent efficacy against very severe disease and all spittle i say should i think many of us who have looked at the data around the astra zeneca offered vaccine believe that in severe disease that vaccine will also be effective a decision to stop the rollout of the vaccination program in the middle of a pandemic i mean it appears to be drastic it doesn't necessarily protect the public health anymore isn't this decision isn't just going to scare people i think it isn't exactly very negative effect even today within the united kingdom been concerns that this might pull off from having the astra zeneca vaccine where as we know from data published last week that in regard to the most common variants in

the u.k. and elsewhere in europe the astra zeneca also the vaccine is very very effective and in fact in the last trial over 12000 people given the vaccine not not one of them needed to be hospitalized but we know that the british prime minister says that he has confidence in all of the vaccines that are in use at the moment the european union it's not offering the astra zeneca vaccine to people over the age of 65 and now we have the south african variant and the vaccination stop how do you explain professor different governments reaching different conclusions with the same science. you know i think we've got some different interpretations of the science we've also got dare i say it a little bit of politics creeping into some of the decision making and we've always known that one of the issues is going to be supplies of that scene so the most

important thing is that we all get across the world as many vaccines approved the use as possible and we also realize that i think that there would be changes in the virus as it grows in us and that we might have to think about ways of updating the vaccines in the future there are dozens of coronavirus vaccines in the pipeline eventually we will be able to pick and choose what we've been told will that be the answer then to warding off any new dangers that may arise from new variants of the virus i think there are 2 things here one is making sure that whatever vaccines used these gives the best possibly new response and that individuals use need to receive 2 doses because the larger and bigger and stronger the protective immune response is the better to protect not only against disease but also this whole question now of whether any of these vaccines are going to prevent transmission

because the lead bit of data i guess today from south africa suggests that the astra zeneca vaccine may not stop model disease and what that really means is that people could still go on and transmit the virus and that's going to be a problem which will require. probably modest modification of the vaccines in the future we have this medical miracle of having affected vaccines which were developed at record speed and as you say that can be altered according to the viruses mutations this is all very encouraging are governments are they communicating this well enough in your opinion. no i don't think they are and i think and it's very difficult you know we're in the middle of a pandemic we almost don't have the luxury of being able to sit back and think more about better vaccines and better approaches what is for sure is that the vaccine program is important but also we have to recognize the whatever variants are generated they all spread in the same way this virus is

a risk richie virus is spread in aerosols and droplets and person to person contact we need to really look at that again so we need to be sure in each of these cuts is as much as possible we're operating social distancing and hygiene and face most q.c. because that will stop infection and the need to run that type of approach those type of. other facts to prevent infection alongside the vaccine and the final question for you professor the news from south africa today should it alter our expectations that the vaccines will deliver us album of this pandemic i think we need to be cautious about that but the will is telling us is that we're in a very strange phase now a difficult phase of this pandemic where the virus is adapting to our bodies we've seen that certainly in the u.k. with the various generated field and she's more affection and we are going to see continuing changes in the virus as it adapts to our bodies and i think we've just

got to try and keep up with those changes and think about the ways that we can use both vaccines as well as other medications actually to to prevent the virus from causing severe disease the priority has to be in all our countries to protect the most vulnerable from getting sick from this disease more john professor of molecular and college of warwick medical school in the u.k. professor we appreciate your time in your valuable insights tonight thank you thank you very much. like in many other countries code 19 prevented children in india from attending school for most of last year while some schools have now reopened for many children in india's villages going back to school is not an option anymore millions of parents are now jobless meaning their children now have to step up and become breadwinners.

i said to him on started apprenticing 6 weeks ago at this one in a village and at that for this the shy 12 year old has been hot pot to do listening to instructions. is clearly not enjoying it. i want to go back to school. meet my friends i don't want to work here. but he doesn't really have an option nor does his younger brother who joined him here a few days ago but both of following their father's instructions up to him on is out of work himself. with schools closed. due to the court or no iris he has given up hope that education would secure them. to him on says he's only looking out for their future is when the way schools are being closed they were starting but they aren't doing anything now we've asked them to work out of desperation so

that they can learn something of hopefully a livelihood is schools are open and they leave would lose out if they stay and help to survive there's no advantage in going to school now. the state government has just announced the junior classes are set to 0 but a sudden i'll just need to state that will support their family. high school classes resume back in october but children younger than 15 us have hardly studied for the better part of. at best they by the way that i'm playing with their friends at worst they are forced into labor or matadors. to the inch or that he has widening endlessly about this especially about the 400 children who attended his school his class is much smaller now he just helps his own daughters with their studies private schools like sure that he is educated close to half of india's children often for very little money. now his own school survival is at stake.

his hundreds of being more approximately bundle monthly fees joining the lock down he still feels that many can't afford to continue sending their children a lot of material mob of most of the children are accompanying their parents to work. i fear 70 percent of them will drop out we try to appeal to the parents to keep educating their kids but they just say if we don't have money how are we supposed to send their children to school. there were a number from the lack of resources also the woods out online education told she says. if parents already can't afford a nominal fee how can they pay for multiple smart schools for all the children at home education has not been a priority in his village he says and the tag been an uphill battle even before the lockdown hit chaudhry is excited to see the children again soon but he's also

realistic. he knows that even if just a quarter of them show up. he can't count it as a victory. in the united states there is the sense of political deja vu this week just one year after he was tried on impeachment charges and acquitted donald trump is about to do it all over again tomorrow the 2nd impeachment trial of trump begins he's accused of inciting the riot at the u.s. capitol last month just like the 1st trial in his 2nd trial trump will not appear in person and he will not testify this will no doubt be history in the making trouble become the 1st and only u.s. president to be tried for impeachment twice he will be the only former u.s. president to stand trial but these are momentous markers in u.s. history not meant to be saved not for democrats not for republicans not for america

. it's been over 2 months since election day but trump seems to be as present as ever in rural pennsylvania and his upcoming impeachment trial is finding little support here my. paula lynn grew up in piketon a small village on the outskirts of harrisburg he's about america we're not trump followers we want somebody that represents. long time america and where we came from america is at a crossroads and pennsylvania is a prime example for the divide between rural and urban on the one hand you have trump supporters who still believe that the election was stolen on the other hand you have democrats who want to hold stolen trump accountable for the storming of the capitol ungenerous 6. only 20 minutes away in opp town harrisburg the

political landscape changes from deep red to bright blue the democratic phenomenon which can be found all across america i'll be happy to give it all up front and his supporters why because the. capital you know i mean he lives it was lost for what i talked to 2 pennsylvanians state senators. because of covert restrictions is it really worth taking the risk to deepen the divide of the country even more with the impeachment there's a greater danger in not prosecuting yet because by not doing it where we're less it's all right that he did that. 'd he committed a crime. and he needs to be held accountable for that crime you know is more than

the republicans have a different take soccer to do anything that you know the nation i thought i thought you know obviously we want joe biden well. a great move he could do it is to say you know what and talk to his friends in the house and senate state stop it it's too symbolic it's meaningless he's out of office yet back in piked on paula does not feel optimistic about our country's future now that trump is no longer president it will be a big divide. it's scary action very scary because we're patriots or not going down easy and the next generation might be still living in a fractured nation on this the new president can preach that people. are for more tonight let's bring in jeanne healy he's a vice president at the cato institute think tank in washington d.c. his research focuses on executive power and the role of the presidency she is going to have you back on the program trump's lawyers say that this trial is

a nonstarter because it is unconstitutional is it well no this isn't the 1st time the senate has tried something that's no longer in office you know there are translators arguments seem to be the house and move too fast and . thereby tonight from due process but the senate moved too slow because they didn't get it with a week left in trump's term they weren't able to run a full dress trial if only to move just right you know the fact is they don't want a trial they don't want to hearing of all this and did i think what the jurisdictional argument that they flashed on is something that is just a politically convenient. rationalization for senate republicans who like to avoid itself well i mean it sounds like what we've got here is the

president's lawyers are arguing more about process rather than substance in other words the trial is not constitutional but they're not really going way out there to say that the president didn't incite the right. no but yes they did the bulk of the argument is on the jurisdictional question and there's another facet involving the president's 1st amendment rights that more or less as long as he didn't say he couldn't be crowd criminally prosecuted for incitement to riot then he's home free that's not the way it works or has ever worked in ph you can lose your job or be disqualified from office for behavior that is that they can't send you to jail for the standards that the supreme court it is fly to the

cruel is a shoot of political speech or there are properly very ah there's a high bar to send someone to jail for something he said in a political speech that's not at all what we're talking about here and so it doesn't quite get you to it acquittal to simply to say that the prosecutor would have a hard time of pressing criminal charges against trump for his january 6 pre riot rallies. you know during the 1st impeachment trial last year the republican majority at the time prevented witnesses from being called in to testify the democrats said that witnesses are fundamental to a fair trial this time around the 100 senators in the chamber they happen to be the witnesses as well should that make it easier to convict the president. well you would think that some of them would. take this somewhat personally you

know many of them spent january 6 hiding you know it in their offices and many of them were driven out of the capitol building this was essentially a i don't know if incitement insurrection is the right way to frame it but in plain language it was the president of the united states riling up a mob in the hopes of intimidating congress while it was in the process of counting votes for an election he lost. you would think that having been there in their building when the workplace was stormed and think that you know the institutional loyalty from the from the senate would make them take this very seriously i am afraid that a lot of senate republicans are going to. to retrieve this jurisdictional question about whether you can try an ex-president who's already been impeach i

think that is going to be a convenient way to put this to to to avoid ruling on the merits yeah and it looks fairly clear tonight that the majority needed to make the president is not going to be reached because of the republicans or is there any point then to this trial. i suppose the point is the expressive value of a bit of the practical after one of the reasons there were they press this were still hopes of getting the disqualification you don't get to disqualification disqualification only requires a majority vote but you can't get there until you have 67 senators to vote to convict in the 1st place and that takes 17 republicans it doesn't look like they will get close to that. but they are they're going forward with the trial and yes because. they're supposed to hand because it does have some expressive

value of finishing what what the house are in a way it's like a constitutional censure of the century but i think gives me my last question for you got 30 seconds jeanne if the senate were to vote the bar trunk from holding public office in the future would that be a satisfactory outcome yes or no what do you think well i think it would certainly be satisfactory for the house managers i don't think. you know it's certainly something that trump could challenge in court if each wanted to get on the ballot and whether the supreme court would hear that case is a different question entirely gene healy with the cato institute joining us tonight from washington d.c. jeanne as always we appreciate your time your insights tonight thank you thanks for having me on. well the day is almost done but the conversation continues online you'll find us on twitter either at the w. news or you can follow me at brant golf t.v.

and remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day we'll see you then if the book.

operation vaccine our national soul efforts been keeping the global fight against her own environment large industrial countries have secured the vaccine for themselves while poor countries are being left and. how can a vaccine be feely distributed to the whole world the hard. rode out of the pandemic close of. 90 minutes on d. w.

. truman children 2 continents. one giant problem and we nearly get in a moment to see what the people here you. believe i mean a complete change in the lay flugtag feeling. how will climate change affect us and our children. more than g.w. dot com slash water. how does a virus spread. why do we panic and when will all of this and trying to do through the tax cover and weekly radio broadcast. if you would like and the information on the crown of virus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast if you get it wherever you get your podcasts you can also find us at d.f.w. dot com look forward slash science.

in. the morning. i cannot sleep the 1st room was in zuma. and the swallow smaller. in these low goodness knows. it's no use known lolo for a book with. those. workers in the burger. comes through. the rooms.

this is. the general and his justifications me and mars army chief defends ousting the civilian government in a coup he's claiming election fraud and is promising to hand back power the international community has condemned the crackdown as police use water cannon on peaceful protesters also coming up much of europe is held in winter's icy grip heavy snow brings travel chaos major sporting events have been canceled and there's no let up expected until next week. and

a tit for tat tween europe and russia. has boys from germany sweden and poland those 3 governments. ordering russian diplomats to leave the country and in american football huge celebrations in florida over brady and his. star quarterback tom brady the tampa bay buccaneers took down the kansas city chiefs sunday night and won the title super bowl. i'm off it's good to have you with us one week ago me and mars army chief led a coup against the civilian government today he defended what he did the top general insisting that civilian leaders failed to investigate alleged. vote rigging

in november's election in his 1st television address since last week's coup the general promised to hand back power after new elections the international community has condemned the crackdown on demonstrators who are protesting against the takeover. the week of military rule in myanmar has triggered a groundswell of protest across the nation. in the biggest city young go on they have a simple demand for the military had back the power to the elected officials and i'm like i want i'm son suchi and president we need to be released quickly. we want all the people from the winning party the n l d to be released that's what we all want. my family not. monks and protesters marched holding the red flags of on sunset cheese national league for democracy they say it's their last chance to fight the dictatorship.

to use power to run the country and use the country's resources for their families and for the own sake they don't do anything good for the citizens and the country's development. and there were red protests in the capital's night people demonstrators braved police water canon blocking that path. many here a state employees perhaps a sign of the anger of those who have briefly enjoyed democracy after 5 decades of military rule. in a t.v. address to the nation the country's new military leaders sought to justify the current gentlemen on line repeated the military's line that campaigning in last november's poll had been unfair. we're getting the responsibility for it is regarding voter fraud. that election delivered just a handful of seats for the generals party and a landslide to see cheese. and now. she's now police back in house arrest where the

army had kept her for 15 years that peaceful resistance made her and i kind of democracy. but the hunter is already warning that any resistance to that rule is unlawful and imposed a night time curfew bringing more protests and triggering fears a bloody crackdown could soon follow. were earlier i spoke with. a burmese academic and human rights activist based in london and i asked him how much impact if things these protests will have in the immediate term i am not sure if it is going to make a lot of difference or you know of course that the new generation referred to as the generation zed i mean i take my hat off we have a trigger happy group of generals that have nearly 60 years record of brutal as

you do in the killings of buddhist and muslims committing a genocide against a ruhi injure keeping the war over aggression and colonial subjugation and ken's known ruhi injure ethnic minorities they being physically risk their lives coming out you know this is actually into a generational nishi and wind you know uprising the general threat imposed in 2 major cities young gold and monthly. curfew and so i think we're going to see must 1 rest you're knocking doors before midnight and resting them. that was manzoni there speaking with me earlier here's some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world former european central bank chief mario drug has opened a 2nd round of talks aimed at forming a new government in italy he met with representatives today from several minor parties in rome druggy is hoping to secure the parliamentary support that he needs

to be sworn in as prime minister this week the united states has announced that it will reengage with the un human rights council the trumpet ministration withdrew from the group 3 years ago citing what it said was unfair targeting of israel the u.s. envoy says that his country will return as an observer and seek reelection as a full member. riot police have clashed with hundreds of protesters in beirut demanding the release of anti-government activists who were detained in northern lebanon last month the lebanese army took 17 people into custody after y. enters a grid by growing poverty set fire to government buildings in the city of tripoli. heavy rains have flooded and illegal garment factory in northern morocco killing at least 28 workers firefighters rescued 10 people from the factory in the basement of a residential villa companies in iraq who often subcontract to illegal businesses

to speed up production and to cut costs. well much of central and northern europe is in the grip of big stream winter weather this storm is dubbed the beast from the east and it has sent temperatures plunging to the lowest levels we've seen in decades transport services are facing widespread disruption heavy flooding has hit southwest france the netherlands belgium and germany are struggling with high winds deep snow and icy conditions. a blanket of snow and icy temperatures in berlin the city hadn't experienced such a wintry weather conditions in years temperatures dropped below minus 10 degrees as the snow piled up on the city's streets icy wind blew snow in all directions the weather caused some disruption to transport in the city. some urban train lines are experiencing delays and it can be hard to drive or walk on the streets because of

snow and ice but the real storm and the real disruptions are happening elsewhere in germany. up to 30 centimeters of snow fell in some areas of the country with gusts of wind blowing snow meters high into the air. railway services were suspended across parts of central and northern germany with trains. and able to travel between frankfurt berlin and hamburg. road traffic was also disrupted with trucks and cars getting stuck on snow filled highways in central germany. we have at least 30 centimeters of snow here the winter road clearance services are working nonstop but due to the extremely heavy snowfall we have absolutely no chance of keeping the highway clear the new big bang enough to the weather isn't expected to get warmer anytime soon well snow should stop falling temperatures will dip even lower made

colder by a freezing wind next week should finally bring some respite from the cold. war germany poland in sweden have expelled russian diplomats in a coordinated response to the expulsion of their own diplomats from moscow last week the german foreign ministry said that the criminals decision to announce these explosions while the news foreign policy chief was visiting moscow was simply unjustified russia accuses the diplomats of participating in illegal demonstrations in support of kremlin critic alexei we have all. are for more now let's bring in our political correspondent simon young so i mean what more do we know about this tit for tat that's going on. well bred the foreign ministry in berlin is made it clear that this action was in retaliation for as you mentioned the

expulsion by moscow last week of a german diplomat the moscow courts he said that that person had been somehow involved in anti-government protests and berlin is saying today that it's totally unjustified this person was carrying out the g.t.s. they said under the vienna. convention on diplomatic relations to gather information on the ground in in russia with legal means and that's the reason now why a russian diplomat has been declared persona non grata and the russian side has in turn reacted the same thing saying that that expulsion is also unfriendly and unjustified and further consequences may flow so it's ping pong back and forth at the moment and how else is the international community trying to put pressure on russia to release the likes involving. well it's very clear that this

was a coordinated action today by germany sweden and poland they've all moved to expel a russian diplomat from their capitals it also came just after a meeting video conference meeting between representatives of the u.s. the u.k. and canada and the e.u. to talk about how to respond to russia's actions in recent days and to the. russian treatment of protesters there and so on so there does seem to be a sort of concerted international action the e.u. foreign affairs representative yes that burrell has said the e.u. and russia are drifting apart and he says it's now for member states to decide what further steps to take that could include further sanctions being imposed on russia . and that was g.w. political correspondent simon young speaking with me earlier let's take a look now at some of the developments in the corona virus pandemic the european

union as finalized to deal with buying on tekken pfizer for an additional $300000000.00 doses of their covert $1000.00 back scene the e.u. has faced heavy criticism for the slow roll out of its vaccination program that russia has issued updated statistics on coronavirus related deaths from last year officially more than 162000 people died from coated 19 last year that is far higher than was previously reported and the british coronavirus variant is spreading rapidly in the u.s. a new study shows the number of new cases of the more contagious u.k. variant doubling roughly every 10 days. all right now to the biggest event in american sports quarterback tom brady had a great night as he led the tampa bay buccaneers to defeat the kansas city chiefs on their home turf in the super bowl brady secured his 7th superman super bowl title the most of any n.f.l.

player and he gave the city of tampa bay a big reason to party. even the pandemic couldn't keep these fans off the streets masks and social distancing when no way in sight not after the tampa bay buccaneers stunned kansas city 31292 in the super bowl the victory exceeded our expectations. of the crazy to me that brady does and when you go in every light and like that it is kind of a very minor bit of luck and i will live for you to go to all game with the big. one 'd all my buddies back home you know engaged on the suit and you know all of them are betting against the boxing you can't bet against tom brady that's and you really can't tom brady threw 3 touchdown passes he also seed a record 7th super bowl title and a 5th m.v.p. award but was this championship most special. girl special and they're all.

it's been amazing year mazie year restocked a good start 7th you and i had a rough stretch where we kind of identity and played a lot better football down last december january and down just really proud of all the guys proud of the coaches after we put in i understand just how impressive are they say it's no one to play in the n.f.l. has won more than 5 super bowls brady is also the oldest paya to win the championship he's 43 but age is just a number and tom brady continues to fly high. well venice italy is certainly not tampa bay florida there is social distancing at europe's most famous carnival beginning right now and then since have been drastically scaled back for a 2nd year because of the pandemic no throngs of tours at st mark's square this year but some locals are dogging traditional costumes and mass after business has

launched a campaign to encourage venetians to rediscover their city without the crowds imagine that but for all the fans who could not visit this year some of events are being streamed online and. you're watching news live from berlin stream piercings up next week of your business stick around to be right back. why are people forced to hide in trucks. there are many reasons. and there are many answers. and there are many stories.

make up your. w. made for mines. the big day for big coins as tesla reveals a huge buy so what kind of risk is the company taking with the volatile crypto currency and what could it mean for the future of big corn we'll speak with our financial correspondent. also on the show the deal making continues in the semiconductor industry where supply is tight and stakes high this time it's german british chip maker dialogue that's being targeted for takeover. and farmers in spain want to profit from the popularity popularity of our cardozo before

environmentalist that idea is the pits. and welcome to the show i'm stephen beardsley in berlin it's good to have you with us well iran must tesla has announced that it purchased $1500000000.00 in bitcoin what's believed to be the biggest commercial investment ever in the volatile cryptocurrency news of tesla's big buy triggered a big corn rally on monday briefly pushing the value above $44000.00 musk it already signaled his interest in the coin posting hash tag bitcoin on his twitter bio must also said that tesla would be get accepting payment with a crypto currency in the future. all right for more on this let's go to our financial correspondent yens korda in new york yes good to see you this is not a small song that tesla is investing i read somewhere that it was equivalent to the 2020 budget line for tesla for r. and d. that's massive but still there's a lot of risks here aren't there. well surely because bitcoin

certain to fluctuate quite a bit sold this investment go in either direction on the other side specially what we've seen was the tesla stock in the last 2 year i believe it went up by about 800 percent sold tesla issued new stock and was that they actually built quiet in amount of cash overall evolved to $20000000000.00 so tesla can afford this at $1500000000.00 at this moment but to clearly usually companies tend to have a cash or cash like as it's a tent and not necessarily something as. yet shaky as say as a bit coins and other crypto currencies are. it's a strong signal sent by a major what does this mean for popularity. well i mean one of the big questions that we do not have a full answer yet is that tesla also mentioned that at some point they would accept

bitcoins also from their customers to purchase a car so by the way one bitcoin roughly is worse and some as much as a new model from tesla but from the regulatory side it's not entirely clear is that will be possible and if you look overall bitcoins are still mostly used for m. speculation there are only a volatile good percentage of transaction was those of id cards where people actually really purchase or buy things but if a company speak and influential as tesla gets into it and we've heard it heard it from other companies to also some big wall street firms i'm getting cozier with the currencies and was a bit coy and says so that definitely could raise some more interest and there was one analyst actually suggesting why apple shouldn't also buy bitcoin but if it's going to do so remains unclear at this point but the it's definitely getting more

attractive if it's really a good idea for corporations to get into this game remains to be seen. in new york thank you let's take a look now at the other business stories making headlines. and we begin with tesla chinese regulators summoning representatives of the electric car maker after reports of quality problems consumers have cited multiple issues including unusual accelerations and batteries catching fire according to the authorities the news comes after 2 tesla recalls the world's biggest car market. south korean car makers one dying say there is no deal with apple rumors started circulating last month that apple and the automakers had been in talks about building parts for a potential new autonomous electric car meanwhile the notoriously secretive apple never acknowledged the potential deal. on sharing out air b.n. b.

is tightening its rental policies in france the site will only allow rentals with a formal registration number the move comes after criticism that the popularity of air b.n. b. is contributing to housing shortages and paris similar concerns have been raised in amsterdam new york and berlin. the russian government is reportedly considering a new social spending package worth at least $6700000000.00 president putin is likely to announce the plan in the coming weeks according to reuters which cites anonymous sources within the kremlin package would aim to address discontent over falling living standards of the election later this year. or shortage of semiconductors has brought some of the world's largest car companies to a screeching halt the latest sign of just how critical the chip industry has become is another sign of the high stakes market german british semiconductor producer dialogue has received a multi-billion euro takeover bid. many i phones contain chips made by

dialogue semiconductor apple is the british german firm speak its client but the supplier all super duces circuits for the auto industry and for the internet of things a major growth market which has attracted japanese semiconductor producer andy sus electronics the tokyo manufacturer. offered 4900000000 euros to acquire the chip maker. semiconductors are hotter than ever and frankfurt dialogues semiconductor share price has climbed to a record high. it's not the only german firm in the sector that could soon be controlled by asia taiwan's global wavers has offered more than 4000000000 euros to take over munich based silicon wafer suppliers still tronic silicon wafers are a key component in integrated circuits in brussels e.u. regulators are concerned over the sell out of european made future technologies the

extent of the dependency on asian manufacturers can be seen in the auto industry assembly lines trying to a halt if essential microchips are not available that's why plans to invest billions in the expansion of the european semiconductor industry quickly solidifying. over to africa now where weeks of lockdown in zimbabwe have helped curb the surging corona virus infections there but they further burden the country's economy which was already struggling just getting basic services from the government for example has become an almost impossible task. the usual hustle and bustle on the streets of harare his dying down considerably now that zimbabwe has further tightened measures to curb the infection rate. access to government agencies is also restricted to those in urgent need of documents have to be patient . just like we're facing many challenges here and we spend at least 2 hours waiting just to get assistance but the more we stand around in

a crowded line the greater risk we have of getting infected with a deadly virus she never showed she would. just 10 percent of government employees are allowed to work from the office right now according to the latest a crane to deal with what's absolutely necessary this worker has set up an office inside of his car. the current. speech will. cause me to. want to lend. it to it's unfortunate that. persists several members of the government have died of covert 19 in recent weeks since many zimbabweans work in neighboring south africa people worry about the high risk of an outbreak of a new variant of the virus here. maybe you've noticed that where you are demand for avocados has been skyrocketing around the world in germany where

they are traditionally on the menu avocado imports have tripled in recent years the farmers in spain were a piece of that action but it does come with a price. and vironment activist rafael use ponders the reservoir which supplies of a colorado pharmacy it with water it's only a 3rd of its normal level is being too little rain and the farmers need far too much water to cultivate avocados. every year new fields of plants out and out means more water consumption there's a connection between that and the reservoirs low levels. only a few years ago the as shockey a region nia malika presented a different face with all of groves and in yards and vegetable fields the small plots provided a modest additional income for local families until the avocado bloom surprised even the old one. here. people are used to plant potatoes and other things turn to avocados it happened over the last 10 to 12 years or so.

officially $8500.00 hectares are reserved for the fashionable fruit most of the water for those fields comes from the reservoir and is carefully distributed it takes 1900 liters of water to grow kilos of a car those have a brown stores his share in some rainwater in his own reservoir lack of water is limiting growth. got soil climate. activists use has looked closely into the region. places where new fields are being cleared for avocados you know if there are plenty of illegal plots. collective. checking closely enough water supplies will definitely collapse. excess load on the main reservoir would need reducing just to supply legal avocado

farms here so years ago millions were invested in treating waste water for irrigation. this has been ready for 6 years but we're still waiting for the permit right now it looks like we'll be able to use this water in the coming summer . spain produced $87.00 founders and tons of a cottage last year most of them in a shop you found with demand and prices so high avocados are now being grown in other regions water will decide the future of that as well. and finally how about a little live music to make it through these tough times a school in new york city is offering just that putting musicians on display and store windows cough the music center is calling the pop concert series musical storefronts to plan 60 performances through mid march from chamber musicians to broadway stars all in a neighborhood store front window of the music is amplified by sound system on each

concert is announced on the same day to prevent crowds. it's a for us it's watching the full. operation vaccines our national soul efforts in keeping the global fight against her own environment large industrial as countries have secured the vaccine for themselves while poor countries are being left in d.c. and. how can the vaccine be feeley distributed to the whole world the hard road out of the pandemic close up. in 60 minutes on d w. i i i'm neal and i'm game did you know that

17000000000 land animals are killed worldwide sure. so that we can be good but it's not just the animals little suffering it's the environment we went on a journey to find ways out of the meat machine if you will to the old one cliff to the priest and the whole truth trains docos when he says listen to our podcast on the green ones. my 1st vice like moses sewing machine. where i come from women are bones by this oceans or even something as simple as learning how to write them by psychos isn't. since i was a little girl i wanted to have both by cycle of my home but it took me years to been there. finally they gave up and went to buy me on bicycles but returned because sewing machine sewing i suppose was more appropriate for girls than writing advice as knowledge i want to reach all 3 of those women back home where bones by

their duties and social rules and inform them of oded be supplied. my name is the amount of people who and i work at z. the. big repetitive. this is due to every news africa on the program today a disappointment and dashed hopes in south africa the country has slammed the brakes on the rollout of the old astra zeneca vaccine up to a study showed it's not very effective against the country's dominant fire spirit government is to remote truth.