to meet this sort of obesity prevalence targets that were taken at the un with a 2025 deadline so i think it's policy in there. almost more than any than any single sort of individual biological cause that's that's causing this and the perfect storm of a pandemic that takes a population that's already vulnerable to think brought together all of these different factors we're talking to thanks for joining us jonah roll some from the somebody federation thank you very much we'll take a look at some other stories making news around the world now authorities have increased security at the u.s. capitol after police revealed evidence of a potential plot to breach the building today the house of representatives has canceled a concession in response to the threat comes nearly 2 months after a protracted mob stormed the capital sending lawmakers into hiding our. heads are us scuse me thousands of members of the chinese communist party are gathering for the national people's congress in beijing this year's event is

expected for some climate change the economy and under arrest in hong kong the congress lost the rubber stamps promises drawn up by the party elite. police in sweden say they're investigating a possible terrorism boat about 8 people were wounded in a stabbing rampage the suspected attacker shot and arrested by police along incidents him sometime that london who say they did not have any prior information about an attack threat. and all of the nearly 300 nigerian schoolgirls released by kidnappers as we have been reunited with their parents but what should have been a happy event was overshadowed by violence mobs began throwing stones at officials and one person was shot. to see before police and top security offices dickey do not girls are used in front of the prius. the jenga big al has stayed overnight at a government facility after spending nearly 5 days in the hands of their kidnappers

it's a big relief to them and their parents. i'm really happy i came back home with time going for everything. on sunday we spoke to some cigar though a parent whose daughter was among the 279 kidnapped girls. i went back to meet him after his daughter was set free got to could only speak to her on the phone. i o.-n. that. i hear voices. so it didn't throughout my system of political and their. early saw. that yes this is my that. the release of these girls is no doubt a big win for politicians but when they wake up tomorrow they will be reminded that

they need to do more to protect their citizens is pressure children from the militias state officials have told me that they are going to beef up security at schools and they will prevent such could not pigs in the future but pay dearly and say that similar promises have been made in the past and yet there are people being killed all kidnapped by the government. i asked this official what his government was doing to put an end to the virus this is not something that you can't an issue with in one year this is just a gradual forces so gradually all those bonded will be different and come back to their normal activities for degauss their resolve to continue their education has not faded though their kidnappers give them a strong warning. the bandit said to us that they will return to attack us when they finish their money. it's defy screw we got that the kid enough we have paid

off though officials denied they paid around some to secure the freedom of the girls and the nigerians won't take pretty shuns word for e.t.a. the. international film festival is committed to showcasing more work by female directors this year with a program vastly reduced by the pandemic just over a 3rd of the interest have been directed by women here are 2 examples from iran and germany. i don't know how much you can talk. about. he's extremely polite but a bit stiff and somehow uncanny but that's no wonder since tom is a robot he's meant to be a partner for alma best finish and i have a say in the abstract think this idea is very much of the moment in

a world that doesn't fact have humanoid robots. but at the same time it presents questions for which we maybe don't yet have any answers for life and for. trying to step in and escape the mind opposite behind a shunt higher up and go from. pesach mention of us to what i had thought of him among us than there is meant to write a report for an ethics commission about whether tom the robot is suitable as a companion or not. and tom does everything he can to make life for almah a heaven on earth but i'm a is a really interested in romantic gestures like strawberries and champagne in a candlelit bath it soon becomes clear that from a human perspective tom is simply too perfect. it stank of this is in fish and i think there are moments in this film that hold up a mirror to the viewer that's and you see yourself as

a human being through tom's eyes and simply have to admit that humanity is sometimes very strange indeed that food he is at the scene offered a busy behind and hunger and the machine so it's perhaps inevitable that the human android pair end up in couples therapy i'm your man is cleverly funny and it avoids the overly broad humor that usually characterizes german romantic comedies but like it's humanoid lead tom the film is a bit too predictable the basically inventive story could have used some unusual twists frankly for life and. from a german romantic comedy to an iranian drama in ballad of a white cow menas husband has been convicted of murder and executed now it's emerged that he was in fact innocent and there's been a miscarriage of justice novelist over here to show my devout muslim brother and don't want us to. i think he just jay i'm sad about it is more important going to

money i thought possible. now nina is on her own caring for her hearing impaired daughter with very little money the film by director and lead actress mary a model is a cry for help it was streets poignantly how hard women have to struggle against injustice and inequality and not just in iran. culture vulture scott roxboro has been watching those films online and he's here to tell us about some of the names to watch out for welcome scott amongst those that names is a celine siana who impressed a lot of people with her portrait of a lady on fire she's back with a new one. tell us about. yes yeah this new film is called petite mollett just premiered here in berlin online and it's very interesting for her it's

a time travel story i mean it's a story about an 8 year old girl she's visiting her mother's old childhood home she goes into the woods outside the house and she meets another girl who's the same age as her and has the same age at the same name as her mother and she soon realizes this is her mother from the past so it's a time travel story but this isn't back to the future though no flex capacitors or time machine gizmos it's a story all about the emotion and about this mother and this daughter reconnecting but on equal terms i never felt along similar lines as memory box also about a mother daughter connection. yes definitely though this is not has no fantastic elements there's no trying travel involved or not literally time travel involved this is a french lebanese movie and it's about. a daughter of lebanese immigrant living in canada who discovers a memory box of letters and photos written by her mother back when she was her age and living in lebanon during the lebanese civil war and as the daughter goes

through these images and these stories she starts to imagine what her mother must have been like when she was her age and teenager the film does something interesting visually as well the daughter scans the photos into her cellphone and crazy animations out of them and so with some ways of sort of literally connecting speaking with her mother in the past. i said at the top the. is doing what it can to showcase films directed by women we're still a long way away from from equal representation within the film industry but i'll be is efforts to achieve that power to having any sort of impact. yeah i think we definitely are having an impact i mean we've seen a lot more films by women not only just get made but also get recognized and get celebrated i mean just on the weekend. of becoming the 2nd woman to win a golden globe as as best director i'm a lot of the front runners the oscar this year are women as you said we're still a long way from parity of the films in the berlin this year are mainly by men but i

think a lot of progress has been made a lot of course sought to be made good so could you scott thanks for joining us for culture. in football news not in the bundesliga shall have been playing in the top division for maybe 2 decades but this year it looks like they'll be relegated it's been a chaotic period the club's new coach is that faith they see. dimitrios promotes his has been unveiled as the new head coach of the 42 year old's task is clear say shall go from relegation definitely a tall order. i see as a great challenge i'm really looking forward to the job and will try to channel more of the energy and power this club usually exudes into the team so we can then show that on the pitch. his new man gained his coaching experience in the lower division in germany but as a player remotes is made nearly $150.00 appearances in the bundesliga he's played

in various clubs soca only managed one victory under his predecessor their 1st all season now the aim is simple when. the voice. we now want to approach it all with an open mind we want to push with the boys have fun and play like shall go again well now do everything for that. his 1st chance comes on a friday in a real relegation 6 pointer at home vs minds. made up news coming up next a news asia chinese lawmakers are gathered to rubber stamp president xi jinping a chapter which includes i'm even tighter grip on. the race to become the next madoff sold is heating up and the winner could make history. a show with mr champ in just a moment i'll be back at the top of the hour with more world news of the day.

cocaine trafficking and brute force in the netherlands 16 drug dealers are now on trial it is the largest criminal case. and it involves the kind of violence that the mother lives has never seen. at the heart of the issue lies one question who truly controls the country. because her. in 60 minutes d.w.b. . we're all such a need to go beyond t.l.c.'s. men. as

we take on the world. of all this that is clearly all about the stories that matter to you. would not change my belief from being a. we are your is actually on fire. to know that 77 percent. are younger than 6 o'clock. that's me and me and you. claim to know what time all voices i was. on the 77 percent of the talk about the issues come up. from one part of teacher to flash from housing boom boom boom town this is where.

local 77 percent. this weekend on d w. you're watching d.w. music asia coming up on the program china's annual national people's congress gets underway we'll take a closer look at the plants the leadership 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 in focus you must restricted zone 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 laws. 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 a much. 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 $400000000.00 people. it's a quick rebound from the coronavirus means china couldn't see 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 with 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 to sin again and again and see beijing as commenter beastly said rules and on kong change the laws given that action and i think it will be very all eyes will be there to see is the n.p.c. at this setting going to be getting more laws which are going to direct him and on cross and reducing the role of on kong's of our own people running on call to 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 is journalist 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 joining 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 it's always you know when he calls for a system of patriots ruling on kong this is immediately backed up by the government there and it's actually for security or jiang said tickle what used to be the quiet part 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 a chair passed through a vetting process through the committee that is already stacked with probation or

less but could become even more so as beijing makes it clear that it will prove absolutely no dissent in the political process and home tone that china under changing thing 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 reaching a paved fever pitch of course 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the chinese communist party and they have a set of the 10 or 8 goals that they want to meet with here including a limiting poverty nationwide which he think is saying 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 that just recently and you know week speech the east is rising while the west is folding the view this as a strategic moment to seize the momentum had to realize these goals are increasing in military spending yet again. if the past gas last year is increased of 6.6 percent in spite of the economic damage done by the coronavirus pandemic of course i want to look at this route 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 once a man who had been accused of sexual harassment a 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. what will it shock to the 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. force its own oh it's a woman becomes the mayor of seoul it was the foundation for gender equality in korea and around the world because women are no longer just baby making machines.

it didn't cause this narrow where women must be respected as human beings and they are all because i mean there's nothing in. 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 and so even though that's why we're having this by election. and you kong you know within the couple you know front runner park young son of the democratic party in the same party as the former mayor has avoided mentioning the issue altogether her main rival conservative and chills who blames the democrats

were having enabled the late mayor's mistreatment of women. candidate 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 mad 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 to. hear their story and that. sharing for her part may only be a minor candidate and she's been seeking to stay above the fray and focus on what really matters to her. at her feet a fundamental solution cannot exist with politics for 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 to stop all chintz party backs a 500 dollar universal basic income to mirror the country's gap between rich and poor but for her and other women the war that women care means should play in so we in the future takes on particular importance. we are coming to the 10th anniversary of the fukushima dai 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 you know. there 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 when on the with are 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 with a bit of a. there when carter's 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 the. point

gotten but these borders on they've been coming here they go in front of the garage dozens they were little babies at this and they've been getting bigger and bigger and now they're also bringing their children here with them so to me it's like them my children or my so-called this good or the police have asked kut-o. to evacuate many times and his family unhappy because used his savings to care for the animals more than 620000 euros in the last 10 years but all cattle 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 good bye.

to. the phone against the corona virus 10 damage. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context the coronavirus update. on t w. w's crime fighters are back africa's most successful radio drama series continues this season the stories focus on hate speech cholera prevention and sustainable local production. all of a sow's are available online and of course you can share and discuss songs africa's

facebook page and other social media platforms. crime fighters to name now. the findings suggest that the laboratory incidents i put disease. is 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 hunt so where did the virus come from the prevalent theory is that the source code to virus is this so gnosis 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 beijing trying to hide something but it 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 in the animals or 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 originating wildlife those include deadly diseases such as the ebola virus sars and hiv scientists call such diseases as it were not it because they originate in animals. who are not of diseases 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 current a virus 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 assigned 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 of their viruses don't really make a distinction. you know. a lot on 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 for 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 threats 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 a project 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 the not to izzy's is so i have the technical expertise we are looking since many years for the souls of human disease in wildlife notably mainly in the tropics in african context so is it a given now 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 where is pressed less kind of action 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 completely 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 intermediates goes far out wildlife and humans this is simply seems to be the least likely scenario so i think they should investigate this in their research of 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 rodents 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. colon functions 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 of the virus 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 virus doesn't have the property like this on star which 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 does not 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 a time think about the same thing about even measles come from an animal origin or so we will continue seeing these kinds of things so you can only solve the problem if you have understood for only 40 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 because 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 and then deaths 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 your questions and what to derrick williams. well approved 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 lee every day that mountain of conflicting information just grows and grows the most striking report 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 they did indicate pretty strongly that as for the seneca 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 personally 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. derrick 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 british swedish pharmaceutical has so far been only didn't say 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 in the team here in berlin thanks for giving us company.

after. trafficking in brute force in the netherlands 16 drug dealers are now on trial it is the largest criminal. and it involves the kind of violence that the netherlands has never seen . at the heart of the issue lies one. who truly controls the country. some give. him 30 minutes. spondee w. o.

y subscribe to d.w. books you mean your favorite writer seems i like to see myself as the can't stop i in the strange grown up world do you know where your books on your. guy meal and i'm game did you know that 700000000000 land animals are killed worldwide shit so that we can think of but it's not just the animals at all suffering it's the environment we went on a journey to find ways out of the nutrition if you want to know how when clicked on a priest and the whole just changed as we think this listen to our podcast on the green thumbs. they were forced into a nameless mass of their bodies mere tools. the history of the slave trade is of africa's history. describes how the greed for

power and profit plummeted and entire continent into chaos and violence the slave system created the greatest planned accumulation of wealth the world had ever seen up to that moment in time. from its very beginnings until this very day she meant trafficking the more. this is the journey back into the history of slavery i think we will truly be making progress when we all accept the history of slavery as all of our history. our documentary series slavery routes starts march 10th on.

this is the doubling years lie from but then germany's lockdown extended 3 weeks chancellor i'm going to machall did announce plans to move towards a gradual reopening and return to a version of normality also on the program thousands turn out in myanmar for the funerals of protesters killed by security forces on the bloodiest day since the current despite those demonstrators returned to the streets even as the generals stepped up a crackdown. on police in washington d.c. act of attempt but i'm the list.