this is the news live from berlin germany extends its lockdown even though infection numbers are going down there are some exceptions but fears of coronavirus mutations our chance of insisting on keeping restrictions tight for at least another month is also coming up prosecutors unveiled chilling images to make their case against donald trump or the 1st full day of arguments in his impeachment trial

they show breaking into the capital of the police officers plain. and freedom for one of saudi arabia's most vocal rights activists jane i'll have lul was held in custody for $1001.00 days after she complained for women to be allowed to drive. us welcome to the program germany's leaders have agreed to extend the country's current coronavirus lockdown until at least march 7th although some restrictions will be relaxed in a virtual summit with leaders of the 16 federal states chancellor angela merkel made clear she wanted the lockdown extended even further though the numbers of deaths a new infections has been declining recently says the new variants of covert 19

remain a serious cause for concern. as the sun went down behind the chancellor in berlin another showdown about the lockdown machall and the state premiers wrestling with the question given the advance of coronavirus mutations in germany how soon will it be possible to open up. yes the time between now and the middle of march is when the experts are telling us that the mutated virus could gain the upper hand over the initial strain. it's crucial that we lower the infection rate in this period and that's why we need to be so careful . until at least the 7th of march most restrictions will remain in place with 2 notable exceptions schools and kindergartens will start to open from the 22nd of february and hairdressers will be able to get back to work from the 1st

of march and move many germans are longing for the. aggressor is a great loss my niece is cutting mine at the moment as well as she can. the next target is to start opening up shops and businesses that will be allowed in places where the 7 day infection number falls to 35 but 100000 people but it's not going to happen just yet caution is still the guiding principle. for closing things down takes courage opening them up demands intelligence it's more difficult because you have to take more things into account. specially with this new mutation it would be better if we push the numbers down then we can live freely instead of needing another lockdown i would love to just go out and you know go. for a museum or visit friends or travel freely and take a trip somewhere and this to get out of my apartment. infection numbers are

dropping in germany if that continues normal life it seems might be just over the horizon. well a political opponent in the house joins me now for more on this you know the infection rate has been improving over the last couple of weeks so howard markel and her government the prime ministers are justifying extending the lockdown for another month. it is extremely difficult for them to communicate the reasons but germany has been in a partial lockdown for almost 2 months now and the scientists agree that because of those measures the infection rates have been going down but at the same time the mutations are causing a big headache also here in political berlin and the u.k. variant in particular is spreading so there is a fear of a sudden spike again if there is a sudden reopening especially because the vaccination program here has been very slow so far so anglo-american and the 16 state premiers agree that now is not the

time for a proper return some normality they want to meet again on the 3rd of march to reassess the situation in the. not just an extension in those schools and have dresses might open soon in some states why this section. that's correct headdress is are allowed to reopen from the 1st of march and you have to remember that at the moment only essential shops are open so that is a big exception to the rule and the very unstable. justify that decision by saying that it's going to the hairdressers is not just a question of hygiene for many it specially the elderly it is also a question of a life in tikrit so that there really isn't there and regarding schools and kindergartens there's agreement across the board that the gap in education is widening here in germany in a dangerous way because schools are closed and many children are essentially cut off from access to schools to education and to their peers. so what about vaccination there many germans are angry that not even 3 percent of the population

of the shop so far other countries are far ahead is the realization campaign picking up speed but now. well a novelty in wednesday's video conference was that the health minister attended the video conference as well and he did present a more detailed outlook when it comes to the vaccination strategy there has been a lot of frustration a lot of criticism a big blame game going on but there is hope now that things will pick up speed now a new production facility for the biotech fires a vaccine started operation this week for example a new vaccines might still be approved so i'm glad americans aren't a health minister said that they're still optimistic that every adult in germany will have had an offer to be vaccinated by the end of this some up possibly even earlier possibly with. political correspondent thank you nina. in the u.k. coronavirus testing is now being stepped up to locate and stop new virus parents

from spreading unchecked up to 10 percent of positive tests will now be sent on to labs for further genome analysis it's part of a growing effort to catch the more contagious new virus notations before the communities face. in the global fight against 19 is mutations that are preventing the next great challenge and here in the u.k. you take another fight directly into people's homes. they're doing due to the testing areas where limitations have been found to identify cases they have a chance to sprint. it was just one case of the south african variants found here in this community that launched this testing scheme but the concern is that one case could just be the tip of the iceberg ordinarily only a small amount of positive tests to screen to mutations meaning that when they all

found authorities here a cracking down hard it's things to genome sequencing that authorities can pinpoint where. the u.k. is the world leader in sequencing analyzing 10 percent of positive covert samples for the emergence of new variants. in toto the team with the u.k.'s haven t. genomics to suit him is responsible for almost half the world's poor by sequencing . work that will continue to prove crucial as more mutations in which i don't think we've seen the full spectrum of mutations that could arise so the very common in england at the moment 117 that's very good at spreading but actually what i'm looking for very carefully is mutations going into that variant that also impact on immunity and that's what starts to worry me considerably and that is what we're seeing in the u.k. but no population is immune to taishan that's why professor peacock says genome sequencing needs to become

a global priority without comprehensive international screening it speeds new more dangerous variants to take hold putting vaccine programmes at risk mutations will be in the 4 corners of the year and there'll be lots that we don't know about that would be quite concerned if we don't know about now the reason that support of all of us is because some of these variants are actually going to lead to a challenge in terms of immunization now that is really critical as we go forward we need to know what the virus is doing so that we can keep up with that same development work it's already been done to modify that seems to protect against existing variants. professor paul heath is the chief investigator at the u.k.'s novak spanx in trial he says he's confident sequencing can help manufacturers keep ahead of mutations one of the beauties of breed the vaccine technologies or platforms. in the production of the 19 back in the

very recent and calexico and so it's entirely possible that modified vaccines will emerge very quickly from. their print vaccine manufacturers vaccines will lie. they have to adapt in the meantime identifying and isolating mutations will be an invaluable tool in the cats and mouse game between fact scenes and variants. from all the new variants i'd like to bring a lot up via the who's a director they european molecular biology laboratory mistah phyla in germany the government has extended the lockdown because of concerns of new mutations with regard to their transmissibility and impact on vaccines how concerned are you when i think here in germany because if you it is very similar to the situation in other countries and we have this. increase of 117 but

probably also. 1135 variant already doing so although overall instances going of cases going down we have the same time increase of these new more aggressive variants and so they're locked on the restrictions with bare minimum what is necessary. you know you call these new variants more aggressive in how far they're more dangerous and aggressive. well so far. the most concern is. foster transmissibility so in the u.k. to look down. in november last year the restrictions were similar to the restrictions here and why but incidents like here overall went down by 50 percent in a month's time he he wanted one step increased by 4 food best pretty

stunning. can you spend a little more about how sequencing can help to keep the spread bad and why isn't germany doing enough sequencing compared to pretty. well let's let's start with the 1st being it being it in your in your piece you have before sharing peacocking some that already are you can and you need to do a. sequence based on civilians to stop it and to find variants which are of concern very early but you can isolate the people very early but you can also feed this information into the pharmaceutical industry fall for drug development and for x. in development so that's absolutely crucial to do that otherwise we always find out about facts too late and that is something which case doing very well my institute

in cambridge is neighboring to visit his institute where a lot of the sequencing goes on we work together very very closely and this absolutely crucial that we extend it worldwide so we are only a few countries in the world which are doing sufficient genome based to sequence based on a pathogen survey in. iceland is one of the invading sequenced nearly all positive samples sequenced nearly all positive samples demarcus stepping out of what's 100 percent now and they will also reach more than just 10 percent cause when the numbers goes down and go down the amount of capacity they have will allow them to go probably of to a couple of hours to 5060 percent. these mutations seem to be happening so fast easy to have any good news for us. when it is. not happening so fast

paced a good thing it's much. better. and by a sequence based pathogens the brains we would be able to spot dangerous. very early and actually by puting that back into a well functioning test tracing to. injury and. you could find these individuals harboring these dangerous very early isolate them trace the context isolate these and you can stamp it out so we have a chance to do it is it's we have the tools we have to capabilities we have also the financial means because it is way cheaper than paying. down a. biology laboratory thank you.

now let's have a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world today u.s. president joe biden has announced new sanctions against the military regime that seized power in myanmar is one of ostade leaders sons to choose close as aides was detained a new wave of overnight arrests tens of thousands have been taking to the streets to protest against last week's military coup. the wife of jailed kremlin critic alexander valley has flown to germany from russia according to german magazine der spiegel yulia fly flew from moscow to frankfurt on wednesday last week a husband was sentenced to nearly 3 years in jail for violating his probation after he was poisoned in siberia. in the u.s. house democrats have wrapped up their 1st full day of arguments. donald trump's 2nd

impeachment trial the former president is accused of inciting the riot at the capitol building in which 5 people died last month prosecutors unveil chilling new video of the violent mob breaking into the building and the subsequent chaos. on the 2nd day of the impeachment trial democratic prosecutors wasted little time to make their case. they used security camera footage to reconstruct in painstaking detail how the rioters worked their way into the inner sanctum of u.s. democracy coming within touching distance of the politicians inside. as the riders reached the top of the stairs they were within 100 feet of where the vice president was sheltering with his family and they were just a feet away from one of the doors to this chamber where many of you remained at that time. you can see vice president pence and his family quickly moved down the stairs the vice president turns around briefly as he's headed down. other

footage leaves little doubt about the mob's violent intent. what recordings of police radio calls show how the embattled officers lost control of the situation. they were doing there. where are. your great fear 4 your know your. well what are drew pearce no you're right we're pretty certain go. reviews or when you walk up when i was growing up we were going to. the rioters did finally manage to breach the senate floor prosecutors say they acted at donald trump's behest. this was not a coincidence none of this was donald trump over many months

cultivated violence praised it and then when he saw the violence his supporters were people who love he channeled it to his big wild historic event democrats hope these dramatic images will convince some of their republican counterparts to vote to convict the former president with millions of americans watching the televised proceedings the intensity of the prosecutor's arguments has reverberated far beyond the senate chamber. and that's branded obvious u.s. analysts william with william we're expecting this to be quite a speedy trial why's that. you know it's looking to be going to be quicker then dolphin's 1st impeachment trial last year almost exactly one year ago which was quicker than bill clinton's trial and then 1990 s. this time around there's just one article last was last and he should try other 2 articles and also far more complicated case last year even with ukraine this one

democrats feel is very straightforward it was also very in pietschmann there was no need for long investigations or witness testimony so for democrats and feels very straightforward they have all the evidence they need anything that could cause a long this would be if they call witnesses if witnesses are asked over then senators get to decide if they want to hear witnesses unlikely to happen and both sides want to move on really as quickly as possible obviously for very different rescind that arrest if they want to push ahead with biden's agenda republicans that want to put this all to that so both sides have their reasons for wanting to have a speedy trial here earlier this week we saw the senate vote for the impeachment trial go ahead with democrats in favor and with publicans against i'll be going to see the same split when they vote to convict tom it's looking very likely of course we can't make a foregone conclusions who knows how senators could be swayed by the evidence that they're seeing of course trumps defense team will have their opportunity after democrats wrap up today but it's looking very in life remember 74000000 americans

vote for donald trump he still very powerful figure in the republican party many people are loyal to him i would be just as sheer politics as they know it's good politics for them right now or because they truly believe everything that donald trump stands for as of the republican party is really very. split on exactly how to move forward into their into their party thinking and their party agenda and it's very unlikely given the partisanship in washington you're going to see 17 republican senators join all 50 democrats which is the votes they need to convict and possibly even keep from out of office ever again with a move thank you. one of saudi arabia's most vocal women's rights activists has been released after nearly 3 years in prison lou jane lou was arrested in 2018 allegedly for violating some

saudi counterterrorism laws charged critics charges that critics described as politically motivated she openly advocated for the right of women to drive cars and for an end to the country's restrictive male guardianship system that limits women's movements prison and drew international condemnation 5 of a more on that joined by g.w. reporter i ever hear maya why was she jailed in the 1st place. well if you look at the accusations that the saudi government has charged as jane with you would think that she's a very very dangerous criminal she's been charged with you know spying for other unfriendly states things like conspiring to bring down the system in saudi arabia but let's be very clear these accusations have never been taken seriously by anyone outside of the saudi security apparatus they've never been taken seriously by human rights organizations but also have not been taken seriously by you know western

governments that are actually allies to the saudi arabia who as you have as you mentioned was at the absolute forefront of the fight for a time we were going to get the right to drive ironically something that women in saudi arabia did get just a few months after jean was was jailed so instead of this woman who you know really put her her her entire career behind this cause to be out and to celebrate this right she was she was in prison and it's a very confusing move by the saudi authorities why they did that i've heard from her family say that you know this just goes to show that saudi arabia the at least the regime in saudi arabia is happy to implement reforms only if it's coming from them that really for them reform is ok only if it's top down and not some people like routine. release is thought to be a least in part connected to joe biden selection will win can you tell us more

about that. well president joe biden unlike his previous predecessor donald trump has vowed not to be as easy r. and you know dictators dictatorships in the middle east. and he's he's he's vowed to take a tougher stance on our human rights violations in the region and he was one of you know he welcomed the move yesterday as soon as we jane was released and i think that there is a merit to this we will be seeing hopefully more with the releasing of more activists and human rights activists across the middle east we've already seen this happen in egypt last week where a correspondent who was actually in prison with actually no charges for 4 years was was also released so this is definitely one of the outcomes of the election of you know president joe biden and while that's great you know it's a relief for the families that are there it's really sad that people in the middle east thousands that are sitting in prison are you know their lives and their

futures rely on how people in the united states vote and i think what a lot of people in the region really really want to see is a more sustainable policy from the united states and not just these kind of pressures to release people on at least analyst for him sankyo i am. some sports news out of japan yoshiro mori president of the tokyo 2020 olympics organizing committee is set to step down on friday it is 3 year old mori made sexist remarks about female board members during a meeting which set off a firestorm in the media initially mori refused to step down but after nearly 400 volunteers quit from the games earlier this week so cool that we visited more his position as president according to sources replacement has already been found. in football news by a munich prepare for today's final of the club world cup in qatar the team has

confirmed that a top player jerome boateng has taken leave for personal reasons german media are reporting that his form a pop has died or tang is a defendable by and was a starter on monday semifinal win over egypt inside the now bidding to make football history has more on that match up in the final with mexican club to wish for. the flick has almost done it all by the number one club in the world one a handful of titles in 2020 everything from the bundesliga to the champions league the venture early became part of byron silverware collection that sees it now in qatar bahrain have one more title to go winning everything plus the fifa club world cup is tantamount to football perfection it's only been done once before back in 2009 by barcelona. winning the final at the

club world cup. the cherry on top. with all of the titles week one. and then when this additional one. navy at 1st you don't think about it that much and used it out so that in the end when you know. only one team has won 6 titles in a season and you have the chance to be the 2nd team it's a chance to make football history for us and i've been chasing history robert levin dosti fief is reigning football there of the year has scored $27.00 goals this season and he helped by and reach their 1st fifo club world cup final since 2013 success would add a cherry to the dream season hons he flicks already had it byron in his 1st season in charge. the tampa bay buccaneers football team of celebrating their victory in

sunday's super bowl with both parades and hometown fans and players took to the water. boat sailed down the hillsborough river and top houses supporters lined the riverbank to cheer on their heroes city officials. some social distance ever quest was launched ignored. that's it from me and the news in don't go away up next focus on europe. from the other team thanks for watching.

after. they're crammed into overcrowded sounds under a new main condition. in russia thousands of the bombing supporters have been arrested so many of the jails in and around moscow our 1st thing at the scene was volunteers are providing aid to the jailed demonstrators because the prisons in

a coma and food is in short supply focused on her. own to deliver. what people knocking for her. there are many answers. there are many reasons. there are many alternatives. to. make up your own mind to. g.w. made for mines. young german and jewish

just one jewish or was. that me in daily life and at school. we shouldn't be given a special status but being completely normal. 11 teenagers 11 story hey i'm jewish and so. german and jewish starts feb 22nd on d w. very warm welcome to focus on europe with me liz show things are not calming down in russia ever since the arrest of kremlin critic alex a now while many people have been taking to the streets across.