caution on this point buy into giving in as she's done before merkel sought to remind the public of the thousands of lives the pandemic has ended in germany in the fashion. well over 60000 people have now died they are our mothers fathers children relatives friends who we can no longer protect morning game it's always on our minds when we make decisions in this pandemic that. the vaccine rollout in germany has been much slower than hyped to the opposition it's an obvious failure of the government. form funding we've gone from masters of the pen to make last spring to europe's vaccination stranglers today our vaccination centers have been empty for weeks millions of citizens stocking queues for hours on end and you say nothing's gone wrong we're behind remain behind greece behind slovakia on vaccinations. even though here's our loans will begin reopening in

a few weeks they'll be subject to strict hygiene measures many other businesses that will just have to wait for better times. or following the chancellor's speech to the bundestag chief political editor here because no discussed lock down strategy with one of the country's leading health experts. also happens to be a member of the german parliament for the chancellor's coalition partners the s.p.d. . it's a lot about and usually the damn times i didn't mention europe in her address today can timely do this pandemic alert indeed is impossible for us to be suspend me go on i was a little surprised as i'm sure nakul did not mention europe says time we are in this together we can only defeat corvids and in particular as a mutants that are currently running the variance if we keep working together europe is becoming more important or less important with the new wave of mutations

europe is seen to have failed when it comes to vaccinations what has to happen now it is extremely regrettable to say the least said europe indeed in my opinion not personal opinion failed to deliver the victory in early enough there was too much focus on let's see supporting research and for much less to focus on getting the vaccine available process but there was much too little focus on let's save production lines and that was much better in the us so therefore in the run for the vaccine your was somewhat defeatist we cannot afford to run into is it problems a 2nd time then we address the 2nd vixen challenge here because they were not the only opportunity for us to come was a vaccine vs 2 he was mostly shot through the new waves of the vaccinations he has to become much quicker in europe then we are currently we have to get better we have to deliver in the future as the old 13 force also has not been vaccinated at

all even outside of europe but at the same time you have to be able to deliver the vaccines per 2nd rather boost around in order to protect against a dangerous mutation in particular that are coming from south africa or brazil and there isn't much more to come left side is short. so there's the imminent threat of another wave and public patience is wearing thin how are you balancing that out you have to explain why we cannot open up currently that we are in a very dangerous. people. as i would call it that we have to live to get a good grip off the crisis at the moment if you do that as an investment for the next couple of months a real investment for the next couple of months in the next 3 or 4 weeks we if we deliver in the next 3 or 4 weeks we will be in a position to really control the next couple of months until the summer when

vaccination or lard is gearing up kind out about thank you very much. we'll have health experts in britain say they coronavirus variants 1st detected in southern england is likely to become the world's most dominant u.k. authorities are now testing up to 10 percent of positive covert tests for mutations they want to contain this more contagious variant before it's too late. in the global fight against covert 19 is mutations the depriving the next great challenge and here in the u.k. authorities are taking another fight directly into people's homes. they're doing door to do the testing in areas where limitations have been found the goal 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 covert tests to screen 2 mutations mean that when they are found authorities here a cracking down hard it's thanks to genome sequencing that authorities can pinpoint where to look 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 pivot 19 genomics consultant is responsible for almost half the world's poor virus sequencing. work that will continue to prove crucial as more mutations emerge 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 area and but also impact 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 taishan and that's why professor peacock says genome sequencing needs to become a global priority without comprehensive international screening it's feared new more dangerous variants could take hold putting vaccine programs at risk mutations will be in the 4 corners of the 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 we can keep up with that scene development work is already being done to modify that seems to protect against existing variants. professor paul heath is the chief investigator at the u.k.'s new event spanx in trial he says he's confident sequencing can help

manufacturers keep ahead of mutations one of the. vaccine technologies or platforms that we're seeing. in the production of the 19 vaccines are very christian and calexico and so it's entirely possible that modified vaccine will emerge very quickly from. there print vaccine manufacturers and drank scenes will likely have to adapt in the meantime identifying and isolating mutations will be an invaluable tool in the catamounts game between vaccines and variants. up. well let's take a closer look at these coronavirus variants with professor julian tang he's a vajrayana just at leicester university in england a welcome to day doubly professor so the world is worrying about more infectious variants the ones identified in the u.k.

and south africa and brazil that's what we're worried about at the moment should we also be our mail order for more and perhaps worse to come. yes i mean these are all possibilities and we know that these viruses mutate on a regular basis we see this with flu every year we see this hit the earth in which we sequence on a regular basis to track the changes in these viruses that include $900.00 to this these are the sort of viruses is not unusual to see those measles and hepatitis b. many of the vaccine preventable that viruses to track out these viruses change and adapt those vaccines if necessary so in one sense is alarming in the sense of actually something we are used to dealing with and we don't we don't often see more severe phenotypes of these viruses we see vaccine escapes the antiviral drugs scrape you take isn't quite a regular basis that we tweak the vaccines are antivirals bridgeman each year for each patient after this but it is possible to get

a more severe. clinical phenotype of the virus at some point because that's not evolution of the terrorist of the virus the virus will want to keep the host alive spent more quickly through the population so ill less lethal more transmissible version of the process but they have tended to evolve to the consequent viruses right and while this is certainly an issue on the german chancellor's mind we'll hear her now at a press conference last night defending the extension of the coronavirus laca the virtual 100 you take she will gain the upper hand still virus will disappear will be living with a new virus and we still cannot gauge this new virus on its behavior you know if we don't get infections down to a traceable level we could quickly end up with infections increasing exponentially again that's why we have to be so careful for the things so this is a sort of different aspect of that same question professor over time is this current dominant coronavirus strain likely to being superceded by one of these that

we're seeing at the moment. so the question is whether the brazilian or the south african of u.k. kents or modified and he create bristol variant is more transmissible than another variant how they can compete in a population that's actually not immune the way to suppress these various actions to stop or replication i think and suppress replication then the virus can't you take it and can't spread it if you can't suppress the replication fully there and trying to reduce the entrance of different veriest into the country is a you know is a laudable. but often but if i found one variant in that country's population as you know this virus spreads very efficiently present to magically even a cincinnati clee and then you may be missing like 510 case or every one that we know about because not everybody will remember the people in contact with the radio tracking traces that for everybody so how does that how is that going to affect

vaccination strategies. so we just we just have to fact states many people as possible with the kurds vaccines that we know are most up to date against certain variants now of course with flu every year we know but if they start making the flu virus the vast majority mutates beyond that current batch of vaccines and we just carry on and then immunized people and of course you get a mismatch here in some cases so you may have to live with that unless you can change a vaccine and manufacturing process in real time that's really difficult i mean even the m.r. in a vaccines and the advice that vaccines can reduce the time to redesign the vaccine for the manufacture of millions and millions of doses is where the time lag comes and in that time the virus could mutate again and if we look at this with flu for many decades now it's just not making the headlines like we're seeing it now clip 19. professor julian tan from leicester university thank you so much.

we'll take a look now at some more of the stories making headlines around the world the greek capital athens as well 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 the 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. recordings of police radio calls show how the embattled officers lost control of the situation. they were doing.

their younger. well what not outright no your. word is not a good. news when you work a couple of hours during. the rioters did finally manage to breach the senate floor prosecutors say they acted at donald trump spearhead. 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 of 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. maybe 2000000 venezuelans have fled to neighboring colombia to escape food shortages and hyperinflation this week colombia's government allowed them to stay for up to 10 years but it's becoming harder to seek refuge there the harassment duros authoritarian regime has sealed venezuela's borders blaming the pandemic the colombian city. was once the busiest crossing point between the 2 countries he said jonah ramirez has been talking to some of the people who are now trying to cross the border. this is just one of the illegal trails that connects venezuela to colombia with the border closed due to the pandemic it's the only way to cross. a road in the frontier city of kuta there are more than 120 dirt roads like this it's where venezuelans try to escape poverty. others like 81 year old ellis maldonado go back

and forth between the 2 countries several times a week illegally so he is colombian but his family lives in venezuela today the police don't let him through. my wife is in venezuela because her mother is very ill. so i have to go from here to there even though it's illegal because family is family. to bring the grandchildren something to eat. venezuelan migrants in colombia get help from the venezuelans and. established 6 years ago every day it offers free meals volunteers do the best they can sometimes they have enough only for a bowl of porridge but the migrants are grateful for the nourishment.

venezuelans are. survivors of war even though there is no war on many of them have high rates of malnutrition children who have not even received their 1st vaccination. here we help them but the situation is getting worse every day. closures do not stop migrants the organization of american states forecasts that during 20211400000 venezuelans will enter colombia most of them in to reach the colombian capital bogota. this family has already embarked on the journey on food. they are traveling with the 7 month old baby girl but they prefer to living in poverty in venezuela. sleeping outdoors is not easy one has to stay awake because the other tries to sleep sometimes eat sometimes you don't but we were living under the same conditions in venezuela. there are still many

days of walking ahead for these venezuelans 600 kilometers separate them from bogota meanwhile others arrive via the illegal trails the police are watching so the turnaround but for them the journey is far from over. the organizers of the oscars have announced a very different looking awards ceremony this year as movie industry continues to grapple with the pandemic the academy of motion picture arts and sciences says this year's event will be live in person but from multiple locations including its traditional venue we would still be theater he said it decentralizing the ceremony prioritizes or public health and safety. the organizers of the bird live film festival berger nala announced a program that aims to reflect the era of the coronavirus pandemic and a virtual presentation the festival's directors of valmy line up for films that

will be shown next month they say the selection highlights the new world we live in and the sense of apprehension. fewer movies than usual only be shown on line. scott to rockford from danger blue culture can tell us more welcome scott let's look at the announcements and surprises in their. not so much i mean the big surprise was sort of how this announcement was made it was done live in a live stream virtual event of course because here in germany like in so much of the world we're under lockdown we can't meet in person in terms of the films that were announced there were fewer as you said than usual for the belly nala but the kind of movies they picked are quite similar to what we've come to expect from from from this festival you have basically international art house films there's a new film set in. french director one from hong sang soused one my favorite korean art house directors maria hsia who's an up and coming german director of e.t.s.

won an international emmy for for her series unorthodox she's got a new movie but very much these these sort of international art house films that makes the core of the of the competition this year at the ballot. box loved it not many big stars this year but there are a couple of hollywood movies in the lineup. yeah definitely for films that won't be in competition but will be screening and sort of special screenings to get sort of a big push for for bigger stars and we got to have like what the biggest hollywood actresses around oscar winners jodie foster's new film. will be will be screening at the at the barrel and i know this is a legal thriller she plays a lawyer representing a man who is rendition to want on a moment bay and she's trying to get in free based on a true story of a man who is actually snatched from the streets of out of germany and taken to guantanamo bay looks like a very slick legal thrillers from kevin macdonald the guy who did last in scotland so very interesting to see that and if you want something

a bit lighter perhaps with all these sort of dark or serious movies there's a new film with michelle pfeiffer a french accent this is sort of a light comedy michelle pfeiffer plays a. woman who sort of fall into harder times and she's forced to move back in with her adult son played by lucas hedges in their tiny apartment in paris from the look of it it looks like a very light frothy comedy but probably just the thing to sort of get through those dark berlin nights right i mean event itself what will they see as compared with last year. yeah i mean completely different last year berlin was the last big film fest will be held in person so the red carpets on the big gallows and so forth that's not going to exist at all at least not initially will have a virtual event 1st in march. you know film freaks like myself and some of the industry will be able to see the movies and then they will pick the winners for this year and those winners will be shown in it a big gala event

a big public event in the summer in june that's the plan at least hopefully the coronavirus plays ball and the journey will be allowed to have big public events by the summer and if that's case we can have a proper person film festival in june in berlin. thank you so much for the. video conferences have become a part of life for lots of us during the pandemic and now there is a quick and easy way to look smart and well read online companies that sell books in bulk to climes you want to jazz up their backgrounds some off color coding for those who want to direct their shells for booksellers it's good business but in titles that would otherwise be throwing to good use there's always a chance of the new owner will actually pick one up and maybe read a few. is reminded of the top stories at this hour german chancellor i get america has admitted to failings in dealing with the 2nd wave of

corona virus infections she was g.m. by the opposition in parliament and she defended the decision to extend the national lockdown until the 7th of march. the situ update i'll have more at the top of the hour and just a moment to focus on iraq today moscow's jansa full to bursting with supporters of kremlin critic alexei. of the day.

and they're crammed into overcrowded zones under main conditions. in russia thousands of nirvana supporters have been arrested in so many big jails in and around moscow not 1st thing at the scene non-small interiors are providing aid to the jailed demonstrators because the prisons are cold and food is in short supply goods on her. own. hole. it's 26 thing that's like a budget that clearly because i want to feed the of germany with the many the last few years have been quite override getting really upset if you haven't heard it on the home when it comes to jump it is on the whole thought always look right in the eyes of riches but perhaps the biggest guns the new job the applied i'm not all going to prove i love to be in the news there are pros in their account but when

you think them all together they're realizing the cultures of the noble way of never they are you ready to meet the devil and then voted me right just through it . it's about billions. it's a color power. it's about the foundation of the world order the silk road. china wants to expand its influence with this trade network so. china is promising its partners richard. cutting her there's a sharp warning for accepting money from the superpower to become dependent on a. chinese gateway to europe. starts feb 19th on d. w. . very

well welcome to focus on europe with me liz show things are not calming down in russia ever since the rest of kremlin critic alex a now volley people have been taking to the streets across the country the response from the authorities has been violence and intimidation security officials have arrested thousands.