played. this is news live from berlin and a verdict is due in the world's 1st court case over state sponsored torture in syria a former secret service agent is on trial for his role in representing anti assad repressing anti assad regime protests 10 years ago victims and their relatives hope that the trial will set a precedent and finally give them justice. for not just get used to the fact that you lost your job in one second you know you cannot just use to this. get used to

the fact that he just disappeared for north and. also on the program germany's health minister faces questions after the government rose back on its promise to provide everyone with free rapid taps he's already under pressure over the slow vaccine rollout and one of the false fierce rivalry is cancer free blue germany gear up to play the archrival touch in a preview of a potential clash at next year's women's european championship. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program a german court is expected to deliver a verdict and the world's 1st to trial for state torture in syria the codefendant is named as a admits that he was a member. of the syrian secret service and he arrived in germany in 2018 seeking

asylum he's been charged with facilitating the torture of at least 30 opposition activists in 2011 leaked photos from inside syria prisons are being used as evidence in this case. a claims his life would have been in danger if he had not followed orders to detain the activists and bring them to the prison where they were tortured. among those testifying in court are syrians who say that they were victims of torture they hope that the trial could set an international precedent deb you spoke with young one young syrian in germany she hasn't seen her father since he disappeared 8 years ago witnesses say that he was seized by armed men from his home in damascus there are always fresh flowers next to ali mustafa portrait he was forcibly disappeared in syria 8 years ago the few remaining photos of him i was daughter most precious possessions just look at them

a 1000 times trying to conjure up his presence. the day it happened was i was away her mother then living in northern syria had meant to visit her husband in the mask of they hadn't seen each other in months. 10 minutes before she arrived she called them and said i need 15 i'll be there in 15 so he said that i clean the house that everything is perfect and i'm just waiting for you. christine minutes later she. she called him and he never responded. i mean. of the day but i was so calling to neighbors armed men had come to take the most stuff away while father mother and sisters had to finish syria one week later and leave him behind they still don't know anything about what happened to him the

last time. that i actually survived by leaving syria and not getting killed there maybe i've physically survived somehow but you cannot just get used to the fact that you lost your job they want to 2nd you know you cannot just used to the fact that used to the fact that he just disappeared for nor is a. while for us fathers one of 130000 people gone missing in syria most of them were disappeared and bashar al assad's prisons where torture is systematic. now the 2 former syrian intelligence officers are going on trial for crimes against humanity there's a glimmer of hope for families like was fast when the trial started wafa such amongst a portrait of $61.00 detainees and held a vigil in front of the courthouse i don't mind myself and i don't mind the whole word every day that my dad was political was against the u.g.

he only demanded freedom justice and the state of law and for that reason he's been disappeared for almost 8 years now and this is not acceptable i'm not going to be silent about that today while for fields home in berlin she could see herself returning to syria and rebuilding the country eventually in the meantime it's important for her to be in germany at this moment. i think this is the hold off for many syrians in very many we are working our best to be accepted part of the decision making regarding syria because you cannot just discuss and decide anything about us without us. wafa hopes to reunite with their father one day until then chile mind the world of the state of syrian getting its. reporter on high is following the trial and copeland now mathias walk us through the charges and what is expected in this 1st international trial of state torture

conducted by the assad regime will it is basically accused of being part of a much larger system of torture and killing in syria and that's what this trial really is all about this is about bringing to light the horrendous nature of this system of oppression and it's the very 1st time the world over that the court is hearing all the witnesses that are called is looking at all the evidence that the cult is vetting this evidence and that by also laying the groundwork possibly for further trials against members of the oppression machine and just just to give you an example in his plea to the state prosecutor he claimed that he spoke of torture and killings of an almost industrial scale that took place in those torture chambers and prisons in syria and that's actually what's this talk of what's his

trial is about and yet a is basically small fry he's a small fish in the system but he probably you know and that's what the prosecutors claim small but but indispensable part of the whole system so what is the evidence more specifically and why is this trial taking place in germany. well you know this trial obviously should take place in syria that would be the best place for it but obviously reasons that's not possible because the regime public tradings of crimes is still in power of so here comes the international criminal code into play. germany has universal rule you're stiction for crimes against humanity and that's that's what we're talking about here it's a crime against humanity and copeland's is

a place for this trial because one of the accused was arrested in the vicinity of copeland it would even have been copeland's all the land and the judge had some international. experience and so some of it was decided that coach at the trial has to be he has to take place and copelands and when it comes to the evidence against yet he it's basically his own testimony that he gave when he was interviewed for his asylum request where he told himself about the work he has done for us intelligence sources in syria later he was again interviewed by the federal police as a witness. for because there is a structural investigation going on forces crimes against humanity in syria and that's actually one of the problems because when he had

a gave this evidence he gave it 1st as a witness and not as an accused he gave you a report of a chance one hind in cold blood for us thank you so much. another important trial connected to the war in syria is also nearing its conclusion here in germany a verdict is expected in the case of the notorious or rocky preacher known as abu walla he is accused of radicalizing young people in germany and helping them to travel to iraq and syria as part of the so-called islamic state. this is the main defendant seen in court last week he stayed silent as he has for the entire trial. known as abu allah he's accused of recruiting in germany for the so-called islamic state he's an alleged high ranking i.a.s. member part of a complex case. the forces have put tight security measures in place for the trial which started 3 and

a half years ago and. now it's coming to an end with the prosecution calling for 11 and a half years in prison. after all the songs we have credible statements from former members and police informants we have considerable evidence from searches as well as a monitoring of the telephone and internet activities of the accused and internet up to beat and i'm glad. this mosque in the city of hell this time on the site of a former drug store is where abu alaa preached he also put his tirades online where he hid his face he's accused of radicalizing young muslims and helping some to travel to i.r.s. controlled areas in syria and iraq. and his armory later mounted a deadly terror attack on a christmas market in berlin also attended the mosque. abu alaa was arrested in event a 2016 investigators had him under surveillance for a long time. his lawyers say he's innocent.

my client was not the head of any network he was simply a preacher he may have preached at salafist mosques but there's no organization specialized in smuggling people abroad as the prosecution claims that it just doesn't exist it's also 2 floors and doesn't get deceived. but one of the last co-defendants incriminated him and testified in support of the prosecution's argument that he is in fact a terrorist organizer. and here are some other stories making news around the world iran has officially begun limiting international inspections of its nuclear facilities the step include stopping sharing video footage of the sites that the u.n. nuclear watchdog tehran is calling for the united states to lift economic sanctions imposed by former president trump. according malta has handed a 15 year jail sentence to a man who pleaded guilty to murdering investigative journalist daphne carr want to

believe. she had been exposing corruption among malta's political and business elite when she was killed in a car bomb attack in 20173 other defendants are still awaiting trial. authorities in ecuador say that over 60 and mates have died in riots in 3 of the country's prisons the military was deployed to help police quell the uprisings which authorities blame on a criminal organizations jails in ecuador are severely overcrowded and often see violence between rival gangs. thousands of anti-government protesters have rallied in the georgian capital tbilisi following the detention of the country's main opposition leader melia is was detained excuse me on tuesday at his party headquarters he's facing charges of inciting violence during protests and 2019 because the charges politically motivated. well european union sources say that

astra zeneca will deliver less than half of the vaccines that it promised to member states in the 2nd quarter of this year the drug maker is supposed to provide 118000000 doses by the end of june it has already missed its 1st quarter commitments due to production issues the more than 90000000 doses shortfall could hit the e.u.'s ability to meet its target of vaccinating 70 percent of adults by the summer. earlier we spoke with g w correspondent barbara faisal in brussels and asked her for her take on the supply shortfall thing. politically of course this is a disaster the european governments promised their citizens their population we will get these vaccinations to you there will be light at the end of this so corona crisis tunnel and now this might come so much later maybe in the 3rd maybe even in

the 4th quarter of the year so everything will be pushed way back because astra zeneca is not the only company not delivering we're down to has massive problems was production obviously and finds a buying on tech too so politically for european governments this is bad news we're going to have a summit virtual summit on thursday and friday of this week and the european leaders will be talking about this and they will cannot really makes things better they will just have to scale back their promises to european citizens. that was part of a still the german government is reversing its pledge to make rapid coronavirus tests available to everyone for free from march the 1st chancellor merkel wants to 1st discuss the measures with weeds in a leader's mass testing was flagged as a key part of the government's strategy for easing germany's nationwide lockdown for. whiting in line for a free quick test here and 3 there are available to anyone who wants one but not

nationwide despite german health minister yet last week suggesting that be available to all from the 1st of march spawn's critics say it isn't good enough. you can believe that in the federal states this is just not funny at all once again the federal minister has promised something that in one way or another has not come about. she will face questions in parliament on wednesday testing is expected to play a central role in the government's reopening strategy and chancellor angela merkel has warned of lifting the current lock down too quickly the new leader of merkel c.d.u. and lush it agrees that school board their student in the message of the moment is to take care but at the same time we have to debate ways we can offer optimism to the business sector to the cultural sector and to freelancers stephen who is it going to get to be. a number of german states will soon start easing the lockdown

measures among them bavaria from monday hardway stores there will be allowed to reopen as unsexy on and in brandenburg and botton book flower shops and garden stores will be allowed to open juta perishing stocks. doctoring states has served a very of and i believe rhineland platen 8 are doing this too that way we can make sure we don't have people travelling across state borders just to buy flowers. the 16 german study to sit to discuss further easing of lockdown measures along with worrying new coronavirus variance with the federal government next week. and let's cross over now to use chief political editor michelle and the questioner in berlin michelle of why not roll out these tests as promised well that will be the big question that you inspire the health minister has to face and i have more

than a suspicion that he's asking himself that very question it seems to be that like the mosque issue very much of beginning of this crisis when there was debate about getting enough mass but also like the vaccination rollout now this issue of mass testing it seems to be a victim of distribution issues and also regional decision making which is led the league of going to michael steele due partly to think loudly about a reform of the federal state here in germany it appears that production is in full swing and the signal seems to been from the chancellor herself who wants all of those 16 state premiers on board and ready to deliver to avoid another disappointment within the wider public but no doubt the public is waiting and every day counts and there's going to be some pretty tough questions i would imagine presented before the health minister as he heads to the bundestag today and faces

those questions just walk us through a little bit what's expected. absolutely and there's also more of a than a hint of electioneering also going on with general elections here in september again spahn will face questions from the opposition from all parties and he will have to map out what his plan is to deliver but once again it is down to each of those 16 federal states to then actually set up those testing centers make sure that individual citizens can receive those tests and that's been already a hindrance in the past with the distribution of mass but also with the vaccine rollout and that next test really is very close as the minister and i'm sure you will stress this today in parliament will be able to present more than enough testing or actually actual vaccines in those weeks to come which will put the ability to deliver those vaccines under severe pressure here in germany which again

is down to the federal state so a lot of internal politics over what is a very very key issue to the very survival of people this moment and it's important to remember that the country has been an hour and a pretty strict a lockdown in the past couple of months just walk us through what the overall situation is right now me here when it comes to caseload. well it only seems to be hovering around the current status of a round 60 and infection rate of current is just dropped slightly below that and we heard the german chancellor say herself yesterday that she believes we are in new pandemic you can call it the 3rd wave but experts are more and more calling it a new pandemic and this could potentially mean going back to square one also when it comes to potential vaccination and treatment in the future if there are more mutations although it appears that those vaccines are working right now so germany

expecting worse times to comment at the same time political pressure mounting in those individual states to reopen because people are simply fed up people are worn out and businesses are worn out so when those state premiers meet in the coming week we might well see under the macro for the 1st time do something that she wanted to avoid doing which is opening up while numbers are increasing so just watch out for that next week it appears we're entering a phase of living with a pandemic rather than trying to fight it because time is running out and patience as well unchartered territory here our chief political editor mr are breaking it all down for us putting it into perspective thank you. some other developments in the pandemic thailand has received its 1st batch of vaccines 200000 doses of china see novak shot most of them have been reserved for

frontline medical workers the world bank has threatened to suspend its multi-million dollar financing of lebanon's vaccinations coming after reports of lawmakers were feet receiving jabs while people in priority groups are still waiting for their turn and the presidents of mexico and argentina have called on the world's richest countries to improve poorer nations access to vaccines they said that current u.n. efforts to distribute facts seems equitably were totally inadequate. to israel now and ecological disaster there a massive oil spill has hit most of israel's mediterranean shoreline leaving black sticky tar it's also caused extensive damage to wildlife w. correspondent tanya kramer reports that the cleanup could take months even years. it's a meticulous task clumps of tar 9 descend on israel's military new coast volunteers and soldiers are cleaning the peaches by hand the old spill has been described as

one of the worst environmental disasters in decades it's affected more than 170 kilometers of shoreline. give it does it give you tons of crude oil reach the beaches it is rose from this so 3 hours and crucial ecological systems have going to think don't. nature was animals living in the gorge or have been affected by somebody have died she her about mine. we forget. the tower was detected after heavy winter storm last week the cause of the all spill most likely from a ship off the coast is currently being investigated but the case has been put on the controversial media gag order. environmental activists have called the disaster a wake up call for the government to put better environmental protections in place

and this group is out at sea to hope with locating potential oil remnants in the water the overall effects of marine life assistance be assessed but for some it is too late like this turtle found over the weekend but off the top good time. and so we have a small brown turtle and you can see what the target did today and look at the extent of this disaster to visit a small target it was recently blown. up but i'm sure only one allowed. us over to say the cleanup operation could take a long time the tar sticks to rock and pollutes the sand volunteers are determined to do their part in the cleanup effort and they go out closer to it i think it is important that every israeli who usually enjoys the beach and they to it's important that we all come together and help with this mission it is

a part of friends and i. for now the affected beaches have been closed to the public for an indefinite time. and champions league football but the sink aside byron munich have been at luxor for one in the round of 16 byron stormed to a 3 nil halftime leave thanks to goals from robert lewandowski john moll a most ila and learoyd sunday after the break a lot c.-o. only goal made it for before joaquin korea pulled back one for the italians now also on tuesday chelsea snuck away with a one nil victory against south lead to call madrid oliver gio all netting the only goal of that match. germany are one of the favorites for next summer's women's european championship in england and they are currently warming up with

a friendly mini tournament they got off to a good start with the win over belgium on sunday and on wednesday they were nude one of the sport's fiercest rivalries against the netherlands for winter is finally drawing to an end and the german national team is starting to feel full of the joys of spring not all the squad can be here though 5 players based in the u.k. and in france have had to stay away because of pandemic restrictions. in this as a result i'm very happy with how things have gone this week we've had a lot of fun and enjoyed being on the pitch i hope we'll take this with us into the game. after the victory against belgium a tougher opponent a week in the dutch but the coach isn't focused on short term results or local rivalries. it's not about a rivalry quite the opposite. i think there's many tournament is a good sign for others but we can play football again. some countries have had to

cancel their games as we watch being on the nuts. in any case this is a germany team full of confidence after an unbeaten qualifying campaign for next year's european championship. and we have the highest expectations of ourselves. our goal is to compete for the title in england and we'll give everything this year to develop as a team. by the end. the pandemic isn't making those preparations easy but friendly tournaments like this week's are providing something of a test and those tests would come much tougher in the netherlands. golf star tiger woods has undergone surgery for multiple leg injuries after being involved in a single car accident in los angeles seen here winning the masters tournament

201945 year old woods had to be pulled from his vehicle after the crash the s.u.v. sustained major damage after going over it's understood that woods was the only person in the car at the time. you're watching from berlin coming up next it is close up with a look at a bridge in nairobi thanks for watching taking a. friend

of mine. down a friend's. in 2015 we followed 3 people into their daily lives with his hardship. now the bridge is in danger of us deaths because it. comes up. next on t.w. . keep going india. on this california milk is not the

main product. gets done. to be junk farm in noida is the next level organic farm here local breeds are treated like stars as are the mounds they leave behind it's valuable material from new earth and souvenirs. 16 years on t.w. . different. islands of guinea-bissau. here women are in charge. of the archipelago has had a matriarchal system for centuries and. the rare form of society.

women rule differently than men. what do they do with their power. and how sustainable is this culture. leans over rango starts marching on d w. a huge construction project is underway in kenya's capital nairobi the widening one of the main freeways. this bridge is due to be torn down it's located in the empty .