created the greatest accumulation of wealth the world could ever say ok that. this is the journey back into the history of slavery. i think group should be making progress when we all accept the used to have slavery as all of our history. our documentary she slavery routes starts march 10th on w. . you're watching news asia coming up on the program china's annual national people's congress gets underway we'll take a closer look at the plans of the leadership of this from dealing with the economy to dealing with hong kong. after losing the last mayor to scandal and suicide so voters get set to elect a new city leader and they could make history in the process by choosing a new woman. plus the man who found his life's purpose caring for animals into

question was restricted zone but his mission of kindness hasn't gone down well with other locals. i'm melissa chan welcome to news asia china kicks off its annual meeting of the national people's congress a rubber stamp legislature of the communist party it's important not because of how the votes go that's a foregone conclusion in an authoritarian state but because the leadership takes this opportunity to roll out some of its most important new last. red flags are flying on tiananmen square head of the most important event on china's political calendar this year's national people's congress takes on a special significance as a coincides with the centenary of the founding of the communist party and in egypt

it's been a big year for china the only major economy to grow during the pandemic delegates are expected to approve its 5 year plan a blueprint to expand the middle class which already counts 400000000 people. its quick rebound from the coronavirus means china could on sees america as the world's largest economy by 2030 so sort of economic nerds are going to be looking much for us where the economy is in terms of movement through 2021 year over year. but it's going to be you know it's good growth. that will get around 7 or 8 percent would be my guess. president xi jinping will aim to keep the focus on national pride innovation and self-sufficiency in the run up to the congress he launched a major propaganda campaign to claim poverty in rural china was over. the congress

will also move to quash any criticism of the communist party china wants to tighten its grip further in hong kong the high profile trials of hong kong democracy activists has brought attention to beijing's crackdown in the territory. it wants to ensure hong kong is firmly under the control of what the party calls chinese patriots. we've always seen some very difficult days recently on kong and over the past few months use in a again and again and see beijing as commenter basically set rules and change the laws given out action and i think it will be very all eyes will be there to see is the n.p.c. at this thing going to be getting more laws which are going to direct him and on call and reducing the role of hong kong or own people running all the congress also gives an insight into china's defense budget last year military spending fell to its lowest in 3 decades. rising international tensions especially over taiwan but

also over the south china sea could see the congress approving more money for the armed forces this year joining us as journalists reinhold kilpatrick right here currently in taiwan but we reached out to you because you do a lot of reporting from hong kong and there are a lot of expectations that a gang will make some announcements at this year's congress that will tighten its grip on hong kong what are you hearing. the national people's congress is expected to pass the package of reforms that would drastically overhaul the way elections are run in hong kong the director of the hong kong macao affairs office south all signalled as much just days ago to central government and so is the when he calls for a system of patriots ruling called this is immediately backed up by the government there and effects are security or jiang said to quote what used to be the quiet out loud when he clarified that patriots meant people who love the communist party so

it can be any number of things such as eliminating the role of district council as last year because there was a landslide victory for pro-democracy condit in the district council elections or. making any candidate for legislative council as they are passed through a vetting process through the committee that is already stacked with probationary list but could become even more so as beijing makes it clear that it will prove absolutely no dissent in the political process and hometown that china undershot jinking has really pumped up the nationalism and as the report mentions the countries had a relatively good 12 months compared to many other parts of the world give us a sense of the tone of the communist party going into this congress. china is certainly riding a wave at the moment. that nationalism is recipient fever pitch of course if he had 2021100th anniversary of the founding of the china communist

party and they have a set of the 10 or 8 goals that they want to meet this year including at least limiting poverty nationwide which you think is sane to have just done recently and i know so retaking taiwan unifying it with the mainland had a view this current juncture in world politics a sort of a turning of the tide choosing things said just recently and you know the speech to the east is rising while the west is folding the view this as a strategic moment to seize the momentum and to realize these goals are increasing in military spending yet again with. effect if the past gas last year is increased of a 6.6 percent in spite of the damage done by the corona virus pandemic and of course i want to look at history and has increased its military budget again this year for the 2nd time after a decade of decline so we are seeing an arms race in east and southeast asia

intensify as china increases its nationalist and aggressive military fostering final kilpatrick thank you so much for joining us. voters in seoul south korea white elected their 1st ever female mayor ample election is turning into a battle over women's rights what a difference a few months make after the $2820.00 suicide of mayor park one soon a man who had been accused of sexual harassment the current field has several women including a political veteran and a progressive chris satre vying against men for the city's top job and the election has the chance to make history. for it shocked at south koreans everywhere last july when the mayor of salt took his own life park one soon committed suicide just hours after his secretary had accused him of sexual harassment now voters are

getting ready to choose an interim mayor to run the city for the next 14 months with women vying for the job some see change on the horizon. soon but force its own oh if a woman becomes the mayor of seoul it was as a foundation for gender equality in korea and around the world because women are no longer just baby making machines. it didn't was this narrow where women must be respected as human beings they are all because i mean this is about all this and nothing about. shinji is one of those trying to bring about such change the candidate from the basic income party argues that gender inequality in south korea needs to be dealt with now. many women and i twenty's and thirty's say they can no longer stand living in a patriarchal world of gender inequality the political sphere has now been compelled to talk about feminism. but the ruling party has not made any proposals

on gender equality in seoul even though that's why we're having this by election. gong you know within the couple you know front runner park young son of the democratic party the same party as the former mayor has. avoided mentioning the issue altogether her main rival conservative and chilled soup blames the democrats were having enabled the late mayor's mistreatment of women. candidates sharon has the support of union leaders who pointed out that south korean women have long suffered discrimination in the jobs market. with a woman matter problems that are usually overlooked may be resolved however i'm a bit worried that these elections will just focus on the economy and we will miss such an opportunity. here there's 2 in the. shin for her part may only be a minor candidate but she's been seeking to stay above the fray and focus on what

really matters to her. a fundamental solution cannot exist with politics that export sexual violence in order to wage political battles many women including myself believe that gender equality should become the new standard we are actually the driving force that can transform society into one with gender equality who ones are going to go with her thoughts all. sporty back to $500.00 a universal basic income to mirror the country's gap between rich and poor but for her and other women the rule that women can and should play in so korea in the future takes on particular importance. we are coming to the 10th anniversary of the fukushima to tsunami and nuclear disaster in japan that's next weekend d.w. will be dedicating air time to look back at what happened and where things stand

today for now we have a story of one man who as his neighbors fled decided to stay behind in the restricted zone to save abandoned cats. this is such a cottle's house deep inside fukushima's restricted zone. carter lives happily here with his 41 stray cats that. have been some frustrations in the past 10 years that made me wonder why why i was doing such things for you where you are that if humans have trouble making a living society will take care of them and provide them with social aid on them with her going on in that if these kids are in trouble and no one is taking care of them any more the more they will die that a government. there when carter family and neighbors fled 10 years ago cottle stayed on to care for the abandoned pets and the other

animals he was arrested recently suspected of freeing wild boar course in government traps. so people don't like wild bulls. they say they're vermin. point out that these borders on they've been coming here they go in front of the garage dozens they were little babies. they've been getting bigger and bigger and now they're also bringing their children here with them so to me it's like they're my children or my so good is good or the police have asked kut-o. to evacuate many times and his family unhappy because he's used his savings to care for the animals more than 620000 euros in the last 10 years but all carter wants is to live long enough to care for his cats until the last one dies.

we leave you today with images of emma a white rhino training for the journey of a lifetime she's being moved from taiwan to a zoo in japan keepers hope she'll become a mother they're part of a part program to diversify the gene pool of her species we'll be back tomorrow see you then and by. the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context around a virus update. on t w. every day counts for us

and for our planet. is on its way to bring you more conservation. to me reeks in the screen. how can we protect our tenants. with the difference from the wind to the environmental series included $3000.00 on and almost. the findings suggest that the laboratory incidents i put disease. he's extremely unlikely and. to explain the introduction of the virus into the human population. this seems to be the consensus off to a controversial joint investigation. into the origin of corona virus by the w.h.o.

and chinese government in blue han so where did the virus come from the prevalent theory is that the sars co 2 viruses are so noses that it jumped from animals to humans either from close contact with these creatures or the hunting of exotic wildlife so case closed not quite questions remain. indeed welcome to the night in special i'm monica jones in berlin nice took a year for china to allow an international investigation into the origin of the corona barrus and then only in a joint mission with chinese experts is trying to hide something that wouldn't be the 1st time that china's handling of exotic animals led to the birth of a deadly virus. wild animals in cages many of them injured and weak it's filthy and cramped and the animals are in close contact with humans. the corona virus may

have started to spread in an animal market like this is the perfect breeding ground for new diseases. markets like this provide an opportunity for pathogens to make the leap from one species to another. in the process the pathogen can develop characteristics that make it easier to spread to a 3rd species in this case to humans. experts have long been warning that the trade in wild animals could be a ticking time bomb more than 2 thirds of infectious diseases that affect humans originated wildlife those include deadly diseases such as the ebola virus sars and hiv aids scientists call such diseases as it were not it because they originate in animals. who are not a disease this can be dangerous because the pathogen can develop new capabilities and its new host the new host has no immunity so infection can often lead to

serious disease. the coronavirus pandemic has thrust these wild animal markets into the spotlight around the world many are calling for a total down. the animals are sold not just for food for private households some species aslant to make traditional medicines or aphrodesiac others and pricey delicacies on restaurant menus. animal protection activists like these in vietnam say that the only way to reduce the risk of pandemics is to ban the commercial trade in wild animals that have viruses don't really make a distinction. you know. a lot of the higher trade chain they don't make that distinction which whether their trade is legal or illegal whether their training is for bush meat from of sold for medicine or as exotic pets activists agree the desire for an exotic pet is part of the problem

there's a flourishing illegal online trade in them especially involving reptiles. but wild mammals are also sold online illegally they pose the highest risk for transmitting viruses to humans china has now temporarily suspended the trade and consumption of wild animals but as long as the worldwide market exists the threat of new emerging viruses will continue. to professor fabienne linda you've just seen him in this report he supported the investigation into the origin of the corona virus and he joins us now good to have you with us approach a group leader of epidemiology of highly pathogenic micro-organisms of the robot coffee institute here in berlin what was your role in. well i was asked to join the team as an expert on izzy's is so i have the technical expertise we are looking since many years for the source of human disease in

wildlife normally mainly in the tropics in african context so is it a given though after this joint mission looking into the origin of the corona virus is it a given now that the virus has actually been transmitted from animal to human and did all of that happen in china. well i think everybody would agree that given that the virus comes from an animal to mentally infected humans because we didn't know it from the human population before so that's that's clear the question is now which species exactly were involved. and how did the transmission happen there where is pressed for less than an event in that context of that office the holes on the agenda and those questions you just raised do we know the answer now which species and how. you know we have very little evidence at the moment which species are involved the only thing we know is that the closest relatives of the

origin of one of this to if the virus is found in certain bat species in cells east asia or so that's a suspicious range of species to look at and a suspicious region to look at as well but the only other data not reading leading to to a very good process is at the moment i still have to ask you that question though i mean because there is this theory that the virus came from a lab even though an animal in the lab presumably can this theory now be ruled out or are they still question marks. so the theory is extremely difficult to compete rule out. because technically that's a very big challenge haul ever the likelihood that this has happened is extremely low if you consider how intensive we have contacts between wildlife and humans into media to cause harm wildlife and humans this simply seems to be the least likely

scenario so i think they should investigate this in areas which are the most likely ones and then later we may still come back to the other hypothesis all right then let's stick to the transmission from animal to human and i mean even here in germany of course we do have virus spillover from from rodent to human for example every year so when does the transmission from the virus from animal to human become a real problem like the one we're now seeing with this pandemic. so as you said that frequent transmissions and it's not only by recess and if you think about when they call infections like in the food industry that's frequently a problem right so and that's a severe problem we have so the question sometimes about iris drones into an epidemic or pandemic virus really depends on the property off of our is in the 1st place so is it something easily transmissible from human to human so for example

hunter viruses that you find also in germany transmitted from rooms to humans are not well transmitted between humans so they are simply lucky that the rest doesn't have the property like this on starwars has you know so that's one of the important factors all the most important factors i would say lastly i mean why does it actually matter to know the origin of the virus i mean what it actually help us fight the current pandemic. it doesn't help divide the current pandemic but it helps to reduce the risk of future pandemics to happen and these kinds of pandemics have happened since many many years old the time think about age and the seemed about even measles come from an animal origin or so we will continue seeing these kinds of things so you can only solve a problem if you have understood for only 20 and then you can take the right contemn measures to reduce the risk of events so this is what we need and we need that from all the breaks happening not only the very prestigious one as this one

but we need to understand the mechanisms go then we can do something to reduce the risk right and there's still a lot to learn from the current source code to virus i understand fabienne and then doubts project group leader of epidemiology of highly pathogenic micro-organisms at the robert capa institute thank you so much for your time. now from the virus to the solution vaccines time for question sent over to derrick williams. will approve of vaccines be as effective against new variants of sars cove 2 as they were against the old one the hope is they will be the fear is they won't be there's been a lot of conflicting information churned out on this topic already and with around you know a dozen different vaccines approved in various parts of the world at the moment and and new variants being identified same in every day that mountain of conflicting

information just grows and grows the most striking reports so far that a new variant was was steamrolling over a vaccine came from south africa the small study it was based on left some open questions but it did indicate pretty strongly that as for the zeneca vaccine didn't do a very good job of preventing mild or moderate disease caused by a variant in wide circulation in the country that evidence was enough to prompt the south african government to decide to start using the johnson and johnson vaccine on its health workers instead. so yes there are signs that new variants could have an impact on effectiveness and some back scenes but i'd like to add my

voice to a growing chorus that includes many researchers who worry that all the hyped up reporting on variants and studies involving them is actually counterproductive not only because it frightens people but that it does so most of the time for no good reason the vaccines currently approved are based on a range of different platforms that stimulate the immune system in different ways some of them might prove less effective against new variants others more so the thing is even when the virus changes which it will continue to do we can respond like the government in south africa by switching tracks we now also have the technical ability to tweak some back scenes quickly to respond to mutations in the virus so i at least have come to a decision not to let any fears about new variants keep me up at night.

now derek williams there in speaking of switching tracks the german government has just approved astra zeneca for people over the age of 65 the vaccine from the british swedish pharmaceutical has so far been only deemed safe for people under 65 the government hopes the new rule will help speed up vaccination here in germany. and that's it for the day from me and the team here in berlin thanks for keeping us company.

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frankfurt airport city managed by from a bought. this is the daily news live from the main protesters remain defiant after the bloodiest day since the military dozens killed by the security forces and laid to rest but demonstrators returned to the streets even as the general staff left the crackdown also on the program germany's chancellor says the law will be extended by 3 weeks.