of course we have to remember where we're standing germany has been in a partial lockdown for 2 months now public life is on standstill schools are closed etc and because of that the infection rates have been going down so many people are saying there is a light on the horizon but at the same time the coronavirus mutations are causing a big headache and so there is a fear of a sudden spike again if we open our without knowing enough about those mutations especially because the vaccination program has been so slow here so uncle americal defended the decision taken with the 16 state premiers on wednesday night that now is not the time for a proper return to normality and instead the lockdown will be extended till the 7th of march medical had her way it would have been the 14th of march so even later and they will meet again on the 3rd of march to reassess the situation and was also new is that they're now saying that in order for the 1st reopening steps to be able to be taken they have to reach the districts have to reach

a number of new infections of 35 per 100007 days rather than 50 so in century under medical asked for yet more patients ok and she's made the goal really abundantly clear was that goal shared by the rest of parliament. well the goal to fight the virus is of course one that is shared by everybody but there was a lot of criticism of the details so by the far right of the party for example that questions the entire decision making process as factually and legally wrong and the liberal f.t.p. party again said the process was wrong we're going to start to debate new measures before they're taken and not be informed about them at a later stage and the greens are the polling that germany is navel gazing too much and that they're not cooperating enough with their european partners and of course you have to remember that all those politicians are getting continuous feedback from their constituents hotel owners restaurant owners everybody parents who are exhausted so there is a lot of pressure on them to fight for soon

a reopening process let's talk a little bit more about those parents are because we understand that what you know one of the exceptions to the extended lockdown is when it comes to child care centers another exception is with regard to hairdressers why are those exceptions being made hairdressers are allowed to reopen from the 1st of march and you have to remember that at the moment only essential shops are open in germany so that is a big exception to the rule and bavarian state prime min state premier michael souter justify the decision by saying going to the hairdressers is also a question especially for the elderly of a life in dignity. today you correspondent nina thank you. a u.k. experts say that the virus variant 1st detected in southern england is likely to become the world's most dominant strain in response the u.k. is now sending up to 10 percent of positive covert 19 tests on to labs to check for

virus mutations it's part of a growing effort to catch the more contagious new strains before they take hold. in the global fight against covert 19 is mutations that are printing the next great challenge and here in the u.k. authorities are taking another fight directly into people's homes. they're doing do to do the testing in areas where you need to nations have been found to go to identify cases before they have a chance to spread. it was just one case of the south african variants found here in this community that launched this door to door 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 scream to mutations may mean that when they all found authorities here a cracking down hard it's thanks 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 total the team of 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 the taste is going into that variant that also impacts on immunity and that's what starts to worry me considerably and that is what we're seeing in the in the u.k. but no population is immune to me taishan so that's why professor peacock says genome sequencing needs to become a global priority without comprehensive international screening its new more dangerous variants to take hold and putting vaccine programs 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 did 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 scene development work is already being done to modify that seems to protect against existing variants. professor paul he 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 be vaccine technologies or platforms that we're seeing. in the production of the 19 banks and they are very recent and calexico and so it's entirely possible

that modified vaccines will emerge very quickly from. their print vaccine manufacturers and 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 facts scenes and variance. and here are some more stories making headlines around the world a new lockdown has gone into force in the greek capital athens schools one non-essential shops will remain closed until the end of february after a jump and hospital admissions and new cases the restrictions are in addition to tough virus control measures already in place in greece. pelosi and president alexander lukashenko says that he is he defeated a foreign quota blitzkrieg to overthrow him the longtime leader made the remarks at a 2 day convention in minsk the opposition has been holding weekly protest since his disputed election win last august because shango says extra oil and not

internal forces are driving the protest. china says that it's on when one probe successfully entered mars is orbit nearly 7 months after its launch the space craft will aim to complete one full orbit around mars before attempting to land on the red planet it marks a key milestone in china's mars exploration program. the pressure is building on myanmar as cool leaders after u.s. president joe biden announced a new sanctions against the military regime that seized power a week ago biden also repeated demands for the generals to give up power and free civilian leaders meanwhile a close aide of ousted leader aung sang suu kyi is has been detained q tent sway was among those taken into custody and a new wave of arrests overnight protesters from defiant and argues increasingly creative tactics to make their demands. dressed in furry animal suits and

risking their lives. 2 these groups of young protesters and young go on to challenging the crew leaders with humor their protest tactics which is slogans with pop culture references i knew from my own mom. and the most generations it's a good idea from our generation said where l g b t groups and cosplay is and where wearing costumes and trying to get international attention on twitter people from other countries have noticed it was a little way a lot. to gain attention and support abroad younger generations are using both social media and lessons learned from protesters in neighboring hong kong and thailand. wear in crowns and ball gowns thank. you for going shirtless like these members of a bodybuilding club people are showing their opposition to the coup.

demonstrators are calling for an end to the military dictatorship and freedom for the nation's elected leader own son suchi and her allies they also want to new constitution on their return to democratic freedoms the groups remain on deterred off to choose days violence. security forces declared the rallies illegal trenching peaceful protesters with water cannons there are reports that police fired large rounds to disperse some marches. the teenage protester was shot and critically injured. a banner shows the injured 19 year olds and demonstrators know their actions could risk a stronger crackdown from the authorities here but oh my god we are ready to give our lives if they're trying to threaten on on protesters we have nothing except our

own bodies we are peacefully protesting. i'm sure. we don't want to live under the military rules we want freedom. a curfew and restrictions on gatherings have been put in place but they have not stopped fresh protests from breaking out across the country. and let's get more we are joined now by spanier han she is an m.e.p. a member of the delegation of relations with countries of southeast asia and joining us now from brussels welcome to the program thanks for joining us we understand that your delegation has been calling for all those arrested to be swiftly and unconditionally released 6 days have passed is hope fading. the european parliament's about its about the situation in myanmar just this week and just 15 minutes ago i voted on our joint resolution on the situation in

myanmar and it's clear that that you must act and support the protesters that are demanding that the democrat has ation process in the country continues and that the military returns the power and the european parliament it's very clear we're calling for support to the u.n. to get access to the country and of course the e.u. is not a big diplomatic power but we are an academic power we're the 3rd largest trading partner of myanmar we need to expert on sanctions against the military and that are responsible for the coup and we need to suspend the preferred access trade access to the european single market to put economic pressure and to support the demonstrations in the country ok so just to clarify and also to put it into context we know that u.s. president joe biden for example has announced new sanctions against the military regime you've also mentioned sanctions what sort of sanctions could you be talking

about there and and is there political will right now for that to be pushed or on the main level. the basic of the coast academic corporation was the democratic nation process of the country but now the military reacher and the time so the basis for this cooperation has gone because the basis for the preferred axis trade act was the so-called everything but arms agreement is that basic human rights are respected which we're not seeing right now me and mark . and we see that this action against the military are not enough we need to target individual responsible but we need to talk about academics time to mess well because the military has deep chinese and myanmar's economy as well ok so targeted also potentially economic sanctions. you know some people have argued that you know perhaps average people with with suffer from such measures and there

seems right now to be a sense of resolve among many in the population who are saying all of these young protesters coming out on the ground in the country there they're coming out in force despite threats from the military what is your message to them it's extremely brave those people in the country there are not willing to give up on the democracy that was so young and so fresh and still so fragile which we're seeing now and it's clear that the e.u. as a big trading partner is a big development aid donor needs to support the call for democracy and needs to put x. through pressure best academic pressure to support the people on the ground standing up for their democracy to send your han member of the european parliament thank you so much for joining us and good of you knows. thank you. well now we head to the united states where house democrats have wrapped up their 1st full day of arguments that 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 unveiled a 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 near 0 4 000000. 00 what our group peers know you're up there. were 33rd a girl. we knew from 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. but 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. here's a look at some other headlines making news around the world supporters of ecuador's largest indigenous political party have been protesting alleged election fraud in this month's national elections the vote was split 3 ways 7 an indigenous candidate perez who ran on an environmental platform is not expected to advance to the run off election in april. haitian police in port au prince have clashed with

protesters calling on president. to step down unrest broke out in the caribbean nation earlier this month after her 1st refrain refused to leave office excuse me saying that his term lasts until february of next year. one of saudi arabia's most vocal women's rights activists has been released from prison oh how flu has been arrested in 2008 team allegedly from violating counter-terrorism laws charges critics described as politically motivated she openly advocated for the right of women to drive and for an end to the country's restrictive male guardianship system. 2 men and women have been rescued after 33 days on a desert island in the caribbean the trio say that they survived by eating coconuts they were stranded after their boat capsized in the bahamas the u.s. coast guard rescued them after spotting the group during

a routine air patrol earlier this week. organizers have announced a very different looking oscar award ceremony for 2021 as the movie industry continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic the academy of motion picture arts and sciences says that this year's academy awards will be a live in person event which will air from multiple locations that includes the traditional venue the dolby theater in hollywood. organizers say that they made the decision to de centralize the ceremony and prioritize public health and safety. and the vera lynn international film festival the berlin allah has announced the movies selected for the showcase competition to be held in march the festival directors announced the line up an additional press conference on thursday they said that the film selected showed quote the due world that we live in and that they demonstrated a sense of apprehension the reduced selection is completely online this year due to

the corona virus pandemic let's get the lowdown with scott roxborough who's joining us from culture scott any surprise announcements here. well i mean the surprise i guess is that how many announce it was done i mean this is the 1st time that the better now has made their famous competition announcement online that they live streamed the announcement because of course we are locked down here in germany and it would be impossible to have a public press conference in terms of the the films that were picked particularly for competition this year it's sort of well the kind of things that we're used to seeing from berlin some very interesting movies new movies from german director maria hsia from. famous french art house director hong kong. one of my favorite directors but very much on the sort of hardcore art house side which really is sort of known for but is definitely has its fan base and old as

a worldwide fan base sadly they will be able to come to berlin this year. but you know it's known for art house of course as you mentioned but there are a couple of hollywood movies in the lineup so tell us more about that. yeah these are films screening out of competition but a couple of big names i mean jodie foster's a new film the mauritanian with the hiroshima as well as a film from kevin macdonald it's a it's a sort of a real life thriller it's the story of a man who is rendition and from germany to guantanamo bay and then his his legal battle to to fight to be released that's at the top of my list to watch there's also another film that could be a relief from some of the more political or serious movies that berlin is really known for it's a film called french accent and it stars michelle pfeiffer as a sort of aging socialite who's a bit short on cash and is forced to move back in with her son played by lucas hedges in their small tiny apartment in paris is looks like it's quite light comedy

and i think that's kind of thing especially a sort of grey berlin night that we could hold really use. of course what is this going to look like this year compared to last year. it's going to be utterly different i mean last year berlin was pretty well the last big festival to have a proper person festival pure pure you know the gallows the red carpets hundreds of people gathered together to watch movies that's not going to happen this year at least not initially but berlin splitting up a special to 2 parts in march it's going to have an online only festival mainly for the the film industry and for sort of film fanatics like myself who can watch and then they're going to award the winners of this year's daily nala and then those winners will be shown at another event which is hopefully going to be public in june with proper red carpets with sort of big audience participation that's the hope at least we'll see what happens of course with the coronavirus if the let's go

ahead those plans but that's a plan at least 1st a small digital festival and then in the summer a big public event flexibility of the name of the game. franking it all down for us thank you. some sports news now out of japan as president of the tokyo 20 twentieth's lympics organizing committee is set to step down on friday the 83 year old made sexist remarks about female board members during a meeting which set off a firestorm in the media and initially mori refused to step down but after nearly 400 volunteers quit from the games earlier this week tokyo organizers revisited more his position as president according to sources a replacement has already been found. in tennis reigning australian open champion american sophia cannon has crashed out of the tournament in the 2nd round the 22 year old was defeated in straight sets by stony and kind of the after several

unforced errors and falling short of defending her title kennon said that she had been struggling to contain her nerves at the prospect of repeating as champion. and in football news by in munich has confirmed thomas miller will miss the cup club world cup final in qatar on thursday the forward according to reports tested positive for cope with one team after a training session this week well or has netted more than 10 goals for buyer and leaves the bundesliga in assists he is also expected to miss byron's upcoming champions league match against lott c.e.o. on feb 23rd. and the tampa bay buccaneers football team have celebrated their victory in sunday's super bowl with a bowl parade in their hometown fans and players took to the water and a flotilla of boats sailed down the hillsborough river in tampa thousands of supporters lines of the riverbank syria cheer on their heroes and city officials

they asked all of his attendees to wear masks and social distance but their request was largely ignored. up next on. news asia with my colleague. i'm sorry thank you so much for watching take care.

every day counts for us and for our climate. as long as we're going to bring you more conservation play how do we make see the screamer how can we protect habitats what to do with all our wasted players we can make a difference by choosing smaller solutions over stained said in our way same

playbook the ideas lead to a series of teams blow through thousands on the w. and od. it's about billions. it's about power. it's about the foundation of a new mood order the new silk road. china wants to expand its influence with this trade network also in europe conflicts are inevitable consequences contradict the good plain benefit ever since the chinese investor got involved here our situation has changed because for the poor it was privatized a work was much better to give her such as promising as her 1st bridge cuts but in europe there's a sharp morning whoever accept money from the new superpower will become dependent on it the commitment of the shaking of 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 before the face of fiscal by more than a 1000000 plain china's gateway to europe starts feb 19th on d w. cut. this is did of the news a shock coming up today education all brainwashing. out what is national security. on from students as young as 6 where now we talk about the national security you know i also the future of what beaching striking group of schools means for the future of hong kong plus. students in.