this is g w news wyvern from berlin tonight germany's chancellor defending the longer a walk down today on the american admitted to mistakes in dealing with the 2nd wave of the corona virus pandemic she said viral mutations have made extending the national law of must also coming up south africa and the pandemic the president promising his people that millions of doses of vaccine are on the way to fight the highly contagious local variant of the virus and free to go home but not free to

leave saudi arabia the family of the women's rights activists things us president joe biden for helping to secure her release from prison. and how millions of business we lose are fleeing poverty at home by crossing the border into neighboring colombia on foot how long will they stay perhaps 10 year olds. to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and to all of you around the world welcome we begin here in germany with the mistakes of the pandemic today chancellor angela merkel admitted to failings in the government's handling of the 2nd wave of the corona virus outbreak medical told parliament the government had not been careful or fast enough opposition members jeered as she defended the decision to extend the national lockdown and local businesses across the country they are furious. germany's

streets will remain empty and its stores closed for another 3 long weeks at least because while in fiction numbers keep falling worries over dangerous me tysons remain germany's lockdown will be extended until sunday march the 7th but those despairing over bad penn demi care can go a week earlier than that to the south lawn schools and kindergartens will begin reopening in february already and the government has set an ambitious new target for this 7 day in fiction right chancellor angela merkel told parliament that while people are exhausted by the pandemic restrictions this is not a time to be opening back up again. not with the others also of course to the research is still ongoing but we shouldn't doubt the assessments of many experts here in germany and abroad. i had only 3 mutations are more aggressive and

significantly more contagious than the original virus. merkel in the state premiers haggled over the next steps long into wednesday evening the states insisted that schools and day kids should reopen michael would have preferred more caution on this point by 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 of. well over 60000 people have now died they are our mothers fathers children relatives friends who we can no longer predict morning game it's always on our minds when we make decisions in this pandemic. 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 stragglers today vaccination centers have been empty for weeks millions of citizens stuck in queues for hours on end and you say nothing's gone wrong we're behind remain behind greece behind slovakia on vaccinations. even though his loans will begin reopening in a few weeks they'll be subject to strict hygiene measures many other businesses that i will just have to waste the best of times. when chancellor merkel still enjoys broad public support for this law but berliners that we've been speaking to say the longer it goes on the harder it gets i would love to just go out and you know go to a cafe or museum or visit friends or travel freely and take a trip somewhere and just to get out of my apartment i know that some people are not that stable some of the real problems at the moment is whether young people

with depression it's really tough for them because the counseling centers really close it's probably people have to stick it out and see what comes it has to be over eventually by some or at the latest or even restraint you can even say but if i'm enjoying time with my child but i'm afraid on speciations or from that point a few times i'm not so good at the funding of this because i. really have nothing to do but this date is also supporting us so. it's just like a long vacation really. strange long vacation. you know a long vacation indeed following the chancellor's speech today to parliament our chief political editor mcculloch discussed germany's walk down strategy with one of the country's leading public health experts professor karl also happens to be a member of the german parliament for the chancellor's coalition partners the s.p.d. is a lot about and usually the dems didn't mention europe in her address today.

indeed it is impossible for us to be to spend was a little bit surprised to. mention europe this time we are. only the 5th of it but the close of newton's iran is a variant. if we keep working together europe is becoming more important or less important with these 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 the 2 supporting research and for much less the 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 defeated we cannot

afford to run into these pardons a 2nd time then we address the 2nd vixen challenge here because they were not the only opportunity for us who can was a vaccine vs 2 he was booster shots to the new waves of the vaccinations we have to become much quicker in europe than we are currently we have to get better we have to deliver in the future as the old 13 falls also has not been vaccinated at all even outside of europe but at the same time you have to be able to deliver the vixens 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 let it get a good grip off the crosses at the moment if you do that that is 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 on this the summer then vaccination rollout is gearing up kind of about thank you very much. fit here of the developments in the coronavirus pandemic thailand hopes to vaccinate 1000000 people who are most vulnerable to the virus by may a mass vaccination plan is planned for june with 10000000 times being inoculated every month the african union's medical agency says it is in talks with johnson and johnson to secure more vaccine doses for the continent and ireland expects to

extend its lockdown until april a relaxation of restrictions over christmas will lead to an increase in new infections. are here some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world china's broadcasting regulator says it has banned b.b.c. world news saying it violated guidelines by airing a report on the treatment of the country's we minority it comes a week after britain revoked china's channel c g t n broadcast license after concluding it was controlled by china's communist party. the 3rd day of former us president donald trump's 2nd impeachment trial has begun in washington democratic impeachment managers and trump's lawyers each have 16 hours to make their case before the senate winds day's proceedings featured dramatic video footage showing just how close some lawmakers came to being physically attacked by the right. bill ruffian president alexander

lukashenko says he's defeated a foreign blitzkrieg to overthrow him the hardline leader denounced 6 months of protest against his rule as a rebellion directed from outside the country the opposition claims that the election that he won last year was rigged south africa's president says his government have secured millions of doses of vaccines to fight a highly infectious variant of coded 19 that is dominant in the country president said the immunization program would start in the coming weeks beginning with health care workers ramaphosa made the announcement in his annual address in which he also promised measures to revive the economy and to tackle record unemployment world does from d.w. correspondent adrian krishi joins me now from cape town good evening to you adrian south africa is the african country hardest hit by this pandemic and one of the

more dangerous variants was even identified there what did the president when he what did he have to say about this distinction. i'm so anxious to get on that big vaccination program that the government says is going on remember a few weeks ago it was not so much pressure on the government because it seems they didn't have any plan and then suddenly they announced yes we may steal if we pitch chased 30000000 doses off vaccine then last week the 1st batch arrived the astra zeneca exceeding 1000000 doses there was lots of celebrations the president received the liver himself on just a few days back and your study came out that said well this new after the nick of eckstein is not efficient at least against the mild disease this with this new variant in south africa so now announce they are putting these units in storage and their way to explore and you've exceeded the johnson and johnson vaccine you today said 80000 doses will arrive next week and then the vaccination program will begin

but he didn't come up with a timeline and that frustrates a lot of people and it's clear that health workers will be the 1st ones but the 2nd face nobody knows when visible start and that of course affects the brought up part of the population and what about his plan for the economy have been just the plan to rescue the economy from the damage that being rolled by this pandemic. well economic recovery was indeed the biggest part of his speech and the situation is a disaster every 3rd person here is unemployed if you go to a random hardware store in the country in front of it you will see thousands of young people offering their services day laborers who try to make some money with drug and so so wife and in the past weeks and months you could see more and more people there so that's an indication the president listed a lot of the government interventions that they came up with and indeed the government came up with the biggest recovery plan on this continent and they've pumped a lot of money in but the question is how much money do they still have they have some indications that are showing that the government is quite broke at the moment

they delayed several major payments also for vixens that many people here are waiting actually for a new speech of the finance minister then and things and then the next weeks to see how bad they can all make of damage really is do you think the president will be able to survive all of this politically well his ratings in south africa through are quite high the problem is his own party there's a lot of political fighting happening within its own party there's one faction off the secretary-general that is also lives to former president jacob zuma both facing corruption allegations in various cases and on the other side you have from up with that we tried to reform his own party the whole thing might escalate once again next week already because then jacob zuma of the for the former president is supposed to show up and testify at the state capture commission the commission he set up himself to investigate corruption that happened on that his watch now he's refusing to go there and if he doesn't show up then the commission could possibly request that he will be arrested all right you have been corresponding aging creams

joining us tonight from cape town in south africa adrian thank you. and now to south america at home they are starving and their money is worth practically nothing that has prompted nearly 2000000 venezuelans to flee and head for neighboring colombia this week colombia's government agreed to allow some to stay in the country up to 10 years but it's becoming harder to seek refuge there nicolas maduro as authoritarian regime have sealed venezuela's borders blaming the pandemic the colombian city of was once the busiest crossing point between the 2 countries he wus johan 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 around 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 las maldonado go back and forth between the 2 countries several times a week illegally so he's colombian but his family lives in venezuela today the police don't let him through. and you know. 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 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. during 20211400000 venezuelans will enter colombia most of them aim to reach the colombian capital. 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 they turn around but for them the journey is far from over. the family of a salty women's rights activists have thing to u.s. president joe biden for helping to secure her release from prison luzhin a hot new spent nearly 3 years behind bars after campaigning for women to have the right to draw biden has described her release as the right thing to do. lou jane is at home this is the caption her sister posted on a screen shot of lee jane i have to lose 1st video call after her release from

prison but the 31 year old is not free she won't be allowed to leave saudi arabia for another 5 years because of the injustice she has suffered legion plans to sue says her sister. is not free she's just heard to even nice and decent east's and he wants now instead. reaches. back in 2014 legion of hostile used videos like this to call for an end to the ban on women driving in saudi arabia. she also set up for women's rights abroad and criticized the legal system in her home country in 2018 she was kidnapped and imprisoned for allegedly attempting to destabilize the kingdom u.s. president joe biden welcome to release earlier he had announced a tougher stance against saudi arabia because of human rights violations she was a powerful advocate for women's rights and releasing her is the right thing to do.

over the past few years crown prince mohammed has granted women more freedoms they are now allowed to found companies without the consent of their guardians and the ban on driving has been lifted but many women are still in prison for standing up for their rights or criticizing the royal family for more now i'm joined by mona eltahawy a gyptian american author of she has covered the middle east and women's rights issues in the middle east for many years for reuters moen it's good to have you on the program. has finally been released we know that that's good news for her is it a victory for soul the women in general and we say them. it is absolutely a victory for saudi women because i want everyone to remember that the courage of this particular young woman and the courage of all the other women who were detained by the crown prince mohammed bin salmen in may of 2017 their collective

courage is the reason that the ban on driving has been lifted their collective courage is the reason the guardianship system is being dismantled and blue jane was such a liability to the saudi regime inside prison they preferred to release her into the silence and a travel ban at home so that she wouldn't keep generating terrible publicising for them around the world so i consider this even though looting is not free she is a reminder that feminism works and terrifies all thora terence like the saudi royal family sister today think u.s. president joe biden for her release how big of a role did the u.s. administration play that we know that is taking a different approach now to saudi arabia compared to the trump administration. i think it's really important to remember that the trumpet ministration was not an aberration it was a continuation of decades of corrupt u.s.

policy toward saudi arabia by which the united states bought billions of dollars worth of oil and sold the saudis billions of dollars worth of weapons trump was just a bit more obvious about it so i think if now i respect lootings family and they can say whatever they want about this is release but i think it's really important to not consider that this is any different untel until well and unless we see a real change for example that the us administration stop sending weapons to saudi arabia which are used to commit war crimes in yemen that the us administration demands the release of all the other women whom had been some men imprisoned along with you jane in may there are 54 who are still in prison and the 11 who are still on trial and more importantly to lead it important that we remember women are not a bargaining chip so that mohammed bin cement can stroke new jane across the table

to joe biden and say here you go let out a new page and feminist who tell the saudi royal family you let me ask you their money what about the crown prince there in saudi arabia could he use this release as a p.r. or win for him because you know his reputation in the world is certainly not the best. absolutely this is such a crucial point now crown prince mohammed bin salman m.b.'s as he's known has portrayed himself as an emancipated of women and shamefully too many western media outlets have allowed him to be portrayed as such we know that the driving ban is thanks to the pressure and the activism of the feminists like you jane and the others in prison we know all of this progress is because of these feminists and women's rights activists but m.b.'s wants everyone to think that we don't get freedom by fighting for it but more like

a gift from him so we cannot allow him to use this as p.r. and also we have to remember this is the man who ordered the murder of journalist damascus was yes and he has yet to be held accountable for that so do not let him get away with using this to burnish his terrible image ok mona eltahawy we appreciate your time in your insights tonight good talking with you thank you or let's take a look now at some of the other stories making headlines this hour u.s. president joe biden has spoken to chinese president xi jinping for the 1st time since taking office she warned that a confrontation would be a disaster for both countries biden says his administration will counter china's growing global influence earlier biden had announced plans for a pentagon task force to review u.s. security strategy regarding china. u.s. president joe biden has announced new sanctions against the military regime that

seize power last week in me and mar one of alstad leader aung sun suu cheez closest aides was detained in a wave of overnight arrests tens of thousands have been taking to the streets to protest against last week's military coup. a faction of nepal's ruling party has organized a march through the capital katmandu to oppose the prime minister's decision to dissolve parliament and the nepal communist party is suffering internal battles between allies of the prime minister and critics within the party. and sports out of japan reports say if she were more he president of the tokyo 2020 olympics organizing committee is stepping down tomorrow friday the 83 year old mori made a sexist remark that he said women talk too much during a japanese olympic committee meeting earlier this month after some $400.00 workers

quit their volunteer posts with the games earlier this week tokyo organizers revisited morey's position as president reports say a replacement has already been found in. football now in a sparkling new chapter in the story of germany's most decorated club by your new nick the bundesliga champions edged mexico's tea gris to win the thief a club world cup and make it a clean sweep of all 6 major trophies they could win within a year or so loan in 2009 was the only other club to do that. right out of the starting blocks teague rays showed they had every intention of battling man while neuer put a stop to this attack. but it remained a physical affair throughout neither team giving ground easily. biron finally appeared to go up in the 18th minute only to have the goal disallowed by

video assistant referee for offside. the royston a had a great 1st half chance but rattled the crossbar in the 1st half ended scoreless but by and got on the right side of the v.a. are in the 2nd half then human cobar banging the ball in and assistant referee immediately called it offside but video replay with a match on the line over rule the goal was good off the yahshua commish cross one nil by iron and that's how it would stay. in munich club world champions and winners of an historic sex couple. all right organizers of the oscars have announced a very different looking awards ceremony this year as the movie industry continues to grapple with the pandemic the academy of motion pictures arts and sciences says this year's event will be live and in person but from multiple locations including its traditional venue he would still be theater the decision to decentralize the

ceremony is aimed at times in public health. you're watching news live from berlin after a short break i'll be back to take you through the day tonight politics the pandemic and what to do about the viral mutations will be right back.

for. young german and jewish just one jewish so was what does that mean in daily life and at school is that the same we shouldn't be given a special status but the completely normal. 11 teenagers 11

stories. i'm jewish and so. young german and jewish starts feb 22nd on d w. they want to know what makes a gem of you and your love and batting giving away. i love another was my own card and everyone was late i was in every. get it are you ready to meet the servants then join a rapist do it under a w. it's about billions. it's about power. gives a moment the foundation of a new world order the new silk road. china wants to expand its influence with this trade network. but in europe there's a. morning when for accepting money from the new superpower will become dependent.

on it because of the state. 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. china's gateway to europe. starts feb 19th on d. w. . germany's long lockdown is getting longer much of the country has been shut down since december and chancellor angela merkel says the coronavirus restrictions will be extended another month into more every time a possible exit is pushed further into the future the likelihood of a public and political pushback groups today the chancellor warned the new strains of the virus now threaten to wipe out any success a new day.