yet their plans for hong kong are anything but beijing wants to overhaul the territory's electoral system citing loopholes and defects in the current system. problems in the need but. wait measures must be taken to improve the election system of the hong kong special administrative region eliminate hidden dangers and risks in the systems and mechanisms and ensure that patriots are the main body of hong kong people administering hong kong. chip. why is that the china also announced it will boost defense spending by nearly 7 percent there were other sam parliament is also expected to discuss environmental issues and social development over the next week. are joined by resident china was a cliff a coon and clifford last year this congress imposed a national security law on hong kong and this year china strategy is still overall hong kong's electoral system tell us more about that well i think overall is

one way this is basically the complete destruction of the democracy movement kong it's condemned them to extinction really because they lead to a system was already very heavily rigged to war it's a probation parties in hong kong and in the letters just as a council but that's not been even it's even more now react towards the beijing comp and i think this means that the pro-democracy parties will find it very very difficult to get seats in the parliament so what minimal voices they did what ways out of presenting their views will pretty much be extinguished by this legislation well we have the national people's congress spokesperson say the hong kong electoral system needs to be improved to guarantee that patrick it's manage and run on kong what do they mean by that. well patron patrick in this in this case means

someone who is probation. lawmaker and they are day tend to come from the elise i mean elections we've had in the recent years in hong kong have shown that the majority of people in hong kong want more democracy and they've had these they've had local elections and which of which have shown this there was widespread support for the for the demonstrations in the in the former colony but now the focus on patriot's means that. they're going to be much more beijing focused beijing is laying down the line and it's going to put its people make sure that its people are running the show but china has been one of the fuel economy is cliff that had actual growth last year and now the government is setting a target of more than 6 percent isn't that a bit ambitious whether where they're going to fund 6 percent well that's right i mean it is some people some people actually think it could be even 9 percent because of the rebound from from the pandemic there but am 6 percent shows that

they're sort of thinking they're going to be they're going to be looking at the domestic economy primarily for growth because the rest of the world's markets haven't yet recovered are still into pandemic very much so they're going to have to look domestically for growth and i think that means looking at. you know boosting at the technology sector in particular because they need to boost homegrown technology because the u.s. has imposed a lot of sanctions on its technology sector so i think up between now with all of these things out in together. you're going to see very much a focus on domestic growth and then. and slowly cautiously looking back to more overseas trade but for now everything is going to be driven by by the domestic sector our china export cliff akun and business thank you professor. pope francis has just this moment landed in iraq at the start of his storied 4 day

tour the 1st ever papal visit to the country seeing live pictures from back down at airport right now the 84 year old head of the catholic church arrived in the capital back of amid hats and fears over security and a nationwide coronavirus curfew cancer terrible trolls have been beefed up after a spate of recent rocket and sewer ties bomb attacks. or francis will meet with political and religious leaders and visit the former islamic state stronghold mosul it's the pope's 1st trip outside italy since november 29th. and for more on this i'm not joined by our religious affairs analyst martin got martin and why is the pope visiting the country now. well i think that

you know most of the attention in terms of geopolitics pass being focused on essentially the coverage crisis and to a lesser degree i mean the transition in the u.s. probably conflict with china and india but in that space the situation of christians in the middle east which is quite dire really has has actually sort of disappeared so i think that to a large agree with what the pope does with his critics this try to focus attention to the engine. on topics that are important for the vatican and this is exactly what what we have now you know the situation of the christian community right one of the oldest in the world it's quite dedicate i mean it's a community that was about 1001000000 500000 people and it's now about 250000 with a sort of living under threat and with the strong possibility of farther and

farther migration the communities actually it's it's under lot of pressure so i think that the system in recent. well they're seeing on these these live pictures right now many people are welcoming francis and backed out today and the pope will also celebrate a mass with thousands of believe as is that considered a good idea at the moment. well there's been criticism because the fear is that you know particularly the mass on sunday in. thomas hardy's kurdish territory would you could actually turn into a super spreader you bend and iraqis most certainly already under a lot of pressure we are weak we can for structural see some in a way we can help them this could really become you know could really become a serious problem in the future but the fact of the same time is that. you know this is a way for the boat to not only highlight but to actually help and support

a community that feels in many ways under siege so bringing them out into the street and giving them sort of some month prominence during the days of his trip is something that he's seen this body to believe valuable you know. the long term effect of this is well difficult to say. but you know this seems to be jolly the position of the vatican so clearly as a highly symbolic and very important visit what role does the head of the catholic church play for all the christians in iraq. well there are many of the nominations in iraq i mean there are at least 6 major major groups some of them. got to leave groups which have. there are only 30 so there are eastern churches that most of them are a few of them at least recognize the pope's g.l.'s the head of the church so both feel to that already but the fact is that i think that this far exceeds the space

of catholicism and roman roman catholicism for that matter it's really. a question about christianity by and large and it's survival in the area oh so this fits in in the agenda of the last 2 vatican steps one and the previous one benedict's in which the role of intercom fishel relations on the important stuff sort of building bridges with the muslim world are paramount so i mean this is a recent y. you know francis is going to meet and sistani know jeff who is one of the heads or one of the most important few years in. i think that all the seligmann's really are essentially there to try to sort of assure or to buttress the position of christianity by and large in catholicism in particular in the region. i'm not in visiting iraq at this time is certainly dangerous and francis in general

a man who is worried about his personal safety. no i mean i think that the journal image that emerges from the last 56 years so you know 6 years to see is basically off a church. vatican that wants to lead a church out into the streets. and leave sort of the space of comfort and the space of safety of sort of you know that the church the physical building and the vatican so i mean yes francis has to put it with the church for the poor and poor poor church for the border and they think that in this sense this is very much you know consistent with that position it's very clear that he snow. you know he's now in a conflict zone and he's in a conflict zone in which security sqlite difficult to which you are sure i mean there are the counties of 10000 security agents being deployed in iraq to guard and

t. hese you know his safety in the 66 places where he is which he spun into to visit ben you know i mean. this is something to be attentive to and i mean this is also part of the message that thing they do want to send about going once you send that you know they will not stop in the face or are given the possibility of violence you know he is religious it has mass in thank you very much martin you're welcome. and out to some of the other stories making headlines around the world this hour police in myanmar have opened fire on protesters and mandalay local media are reporting that one person has been killed fresh protests have erupted in several cities despite the military juntas violent crackdown 38 people were killed on wednesday the un security council is due to hold talks on the crisis in myanmar

later today. in senegal police clashed with student protesters in the capital of the car police official said one person was killed it follows the detention of opposition leader was mansong call on wednesday some close arrest has triggered the worst on receipt in the west african country in years. authorities in new zealand have downgraded it tsunami warning untold thousands of people they can return to their homes their heart issued an evacuation alert after a series of powerful earthquakes off the country's north eastern coast. this son diego zoo has vaccinated several of its great apes for the coronavirus after a troupe of gorillas and it's a fairy park became infected the world's 1st non-human primates to be vaccinated against both at 90 the apes received an experimental shot designed especially for animals. now there's been widespread criticism of

germany's decision to extend its coronavirus shutdown until the end of this month's chancellor angela merkel met with state leaders on wednesday and agreed to a very cautious reopening strategy the plan also includes measures to make rapid testing more widely available and to speed up the lagging vaccine rollout so far germany has lagged behind many of its european neighbors in getting available doses into people's homes our chief political editor filed this report on how the country has arrived at this point. i am going to america has just resourceful of her strategy on corona trying a new daunting balance in the face of a 3rd wave. so we are taking steps to open up but they must not set us back in our fight against the pandemic a drastic departure from her strategy so far which saw a lockdown after lockdown when infections rose the chancellor and her health

minister young span under pressure businesses are struggling and public opinion is shifting over the past year angela merkel has used lockdowns as hope prime tool to keep covert at bay now growing frustration at the slow rollout of the vaccination program here in germany is mixing with lockdown fatigue and many are beginning to ask whether angle or merkel still has the right approach when the chancellor 1st directly address the nation on covert right at the beginning of the crisis she vowed that her government would think on its feet these are standard this is a dynamic situation and we will continue to learn as we go along so we can change course and react with other instruments adam and any time. biotech pfizer came up with that instrument everyone wanted the 1st market ready vaccine but germany and the you had vaccinated just over 5 percent of their people by the time israel

celebrated vaccinating almost its entire population taking the european way may have prevented an e.u. meltdown but it was painfully slow to let course the vaccination effort was slow to get going. it's only now that germany is adding rapid test centers and home testing to its pandemic strategy months after austria merkel's new approach of opening up as mutations gather pace is the wrong move says the opposition. i don't think that the measures which are taken between regional leaders and chancellor merkel yesterday will fit you a situation and i think we are heading right into a 3rd wave overall support for the government's coronas strategy is still solid at around 50 percent but it used to be more than 70 within 12 months i'm going to machall went from being europe's corona leadership champion who managed to flatten

the curve to a chancellor increasingly on the defensive over these coming weeks and months her legacy may be written of a corona. pressure is growing for the european union to address vaccine shortages as infection rates in europe are climbing for the 1st time in weeks the block is supporting italy's decision to stop more than a quarter of a 1000000 doses of the astra zeneca vaccine from leaving the e.u. the inoculations were destined for australia but rome used an export control system in the e.u. to stop the shipment as was and to live it only a fraction of the vaccines it agrees to supply to the. australian has asked the european commission for a review of the decision but played down the impact of the block shipment in italy people are dying at the right of 300. and so i can certainly understand the high

level of anxiety that would exist in italy and in many countries or across europe as that is regularly conveyed to me and so they have some world difficulties there . and iran bridled across a situation that is not the situation of the strike here but nevertheless we've been able to secure our supplies and also the promise of mars and speaking there let's now get the view from brussels on this story for that i'm not joined by our correspondent gil martyrs who is of course following this story for us is this a sign that the e.u. is finally taking a tougher and more selfish stance on boxing's. it appears indeed that export ban policies appear to be contagious if you look at the u.k. if you look at the us there are export bans already in place particularly in the u.s. if you take the example of canada not a single vaccine has been coming from the u.s. but it's rather europe that is providing vaccines for canada so

a one market difference however is that in the e.u. the mechanism in place is called an export authorization mechanism and that is not an outright export ban there are 2 key criteria for the e.u. and they're also affected effective in case of this italian australian example one is the country where the vaccines are going needs to be vulnerable and that is from the perspective of the you not the case with low numbers in in our straightly secondly only companies are affected that are not honoring their agreement and in case of astra zeneca that is the case only 40 percent of the vaccines that have been promised to that you have been so far delivered. france may also block future exports of the astra zeneca vaccine philis in that exactly the french a minister of state for european affairs has made clear that he supports italy's policy and he made also clear that europe needs to protect its interests a more effectively and that is particularly important when you look at the next

decision that the european medicines agency will take on the johnson and johnson and johnson vaccine for instance with a 200000000 doses potentially coming europe's way the thing here is that it's predominantly produced in the netherlands and also in 2 other european locations with a worldwide production chain but finally produced in the netherlands and then bottled in the u.s. so the fill in finnish as it's called will take place in large parts in the u.s. and the concern of course now is on the european part that those vaccines will never return to europe unless there is this threat of an export ban. so 1st and where do we stand in europe regarding infections and regarding backs and nations you have light and shadow gad you have of course shadow if you look at the map of infections it's deep red and and the best yellow in parts then of course you have light when you look at the vaccines coming to europe in the 2nd quarter some

500000000 doses potentially 300000000 doses already confirmed coming europe's way and so the key challenge now for the e.u. will be actually the rollouts getting those vaccines in the 2nd quarter that are coming into people's arms our correspondent give muslim. brotherhood in brussels thank you. phelan's international film festival is committed sushil casing more work by female directors this year with a program vastly reduced by the pandemic a 3rd of the entries are directed by women in iraq 2 examples from iran and from germany. 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 obama as finnish and i have a say in there so i 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. tribes didn't. escape home indorsement hierarchy from. pesach he mentioned after what i had thought of him on my list and elmer 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 in fishy and i

think there are moments in this film that hold up the nearer to the viewer that's as 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 is just one of us in a fit of the abandoned 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 its humanoid lead tom the film is a bit too predictable the basically inventive story could have used some unusual twists but before like come i'm taught. 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 hollister here to show whether the muslim brotherhood don't want us to. overtake the jews jay i'm sad about it is more important than of any. possible. now mina is on her own caring for her hearing impaired daughter with very little money the film by director and lead actress mari a model is a cry for help it illustrates poignantly how hard women have to struggle against injustice and inequality and not just in iran. we just got time for a look at some winter sports scenes and extreme winters for scenes from the eastern swiss alps where women and men accustomed to catching ocean winds and riding ocean waves try to snow for a change he asked me it's came together as part of something called the x.

project was over. troubling the social distancing the as most of the money. and the extreme sports performed include snow windsurfing speed driving snowboarding of course and snow treaty. looks like fun you're watching the news here's a reminder of the top story we're following for you pope francis has just arrived in iraq for a historic 4 day visit it's the 1st ever papal tour of the country and the pontiff says he felt duty bound to make the trip the number of christians in iraq has collapsed after years of persecution and religious violence. that set you up today off makes the pope's visit to iraq is that also the topic of

our international debate so to the point i'm a member there's always more news on our app and on our web site www dot com and to follow us on instagram and twitter i'm got alphas. from the other team thanks for watching.

good. to the point strong opinions clear positions of international perspectives. hope francis is visiting war torn iraq a country city it is the cradle of christianity brings with him a message of peace and reconciliation but holding listening in iraq with a christian population has been decimated to find out also the point to the point that. the next time a lot of c.w.o. . in good shape. the levers

adult needs about 8 hours of sleep per day and more people feel tired worn down during the day and take energy boost impale small dreams the mind be illnesses behind it. stay alert take chronic fatigue seriously. in 60 minutes on d w. different on the islands of the south. here women are in charge. the archipelago has had a patriarchal system for centuries and. the rare form of society.

women. differently than. what they do with words. and sustainable this culture. of. starts marching. tension sound expectations are running high with pope francis the head of the catholic church visiting iraq the 84 year old pontiff is on a mission to bring peace and reconciliation to the war torn country including to northern iraq where between 20142017 thousands of christians were killed under the rule of the islamic state fanatics these days there are still great concerns about the threat posed by terrorism and by covert 19 that of the catholic church itself is in turmoil in many parts of the world not least germany so on to the points we

ask pope francis in iraq mission impossible. thanks very much indeed for joining us here on to the point where my guests in the studio are journalist and filmmaker. who says iraq is one of many countries where christians are being persecuted which is why it's so important that pope francis is traveling to the region and also with us is the author and theologian alexander girl after who say the papal visit to iraq in times of corona is far from why not a warm welcome to to baghdad born journalist i mean most of all where who saves the pope's meeting with the ground ayatollah sistani will be a turning point in the christian muslim dialogue interesting fascinating indeed thank you all 3 for being here today and i mean i would like to begin with you. i

mentioned you're baghdad born you grew up in baghdad the pope is visiting iraq what does it mean for the iraqi people well peter i think iraqis wait to debt visit a lot since long long time i think if you go back to the 2000 think the last drop. pulls the 2nd try to also to travel to iraq to visit also or south of iraq because of the political situation under the saddam era it was not possible and why have they waiting so long for a christian leader to come to their country. the weight of his turtle weights that he's present in the war and also of the the lessons that he giving not just for the ordinary people but also all for the politician leaders i think this is very important for them for one side for either side they say iraq is one of the most

important the lands for the energies and also for islam and. that's why this is the time the beginning ground 0 to come again to the understanding between people from this that religious and also because iraq was devastating the last 3040 years suffering from violence suffering for wars sunshines and so on and i think i described as a martyr to country up to. and his visiting give iraq and iraqis a sign of the light in the end of the tunnel give them hope give them a new start to begin to understand each other to present their self not as a country with devastating and war but also a country with hopes with potential of the human being ok i'm going to go off that's what it means for the iraqi people what does it mean for the pope well i

feel the pope as you indicated. the army has been there's a long strain of popes who wanted to see you that land this holy land for the 3 monitors to religion however i would say we have seen last year the photos pictures of st peter's square abundant carbon mecca being abandoned in the holy sites in jerusalem because of the of the pandemic and you see like meeting for the summits online so i'm sure it's not the same light whereby you peruse the streets of iraq or to see the people and greet them however this is not like an opportune time to go and assemble it can create mass assemblies of people in a time of a global pandemic what's all this going to feel like tucson on the ground at the moment in iraq you know the country very very well its complexities and its conflict. i think it's a big sign for all religious minorities not just for tickets to people especially for example for the people and of course right now we have an awful situation with

people who suffer. what isis has done to them so in 2014 when isis came into the kitchen. and they all the undergrowth in northern iraq where many people are living christian people and also as the people. they have still started to today so we are talking about $2800.00 women and women who are still in the hands of isis and they don't want to be connected always with what happened to them and they want hope they want justice and they want the wood to know what exactly happened to them and i think this could be a big sign the 1st time that the pope is traveling to iraq and shows like that like you said before and solidarity and also maybe more hope for the population who's still there and in need are people going to be. people in their minds

and in their hearts really going to be open to the spiritual mess. ssage the pope francis brings with him i think when you don't have any other options you have to so for example we have a woman empowerment center in iraq and the 1st time when we started to create a center we said it must be multi-ethnic and multi-religious because of the fact of the consolation but that was very challenging but i think to come together means to speak together and discuss and of hope is strongly needed but it's not the only thing of cause we the people there need justice and they want to know how their people have been kid where the bones of their parents are you already talked about couture so we're talking about a modern genocide in the 21st century and it's still going on and what happened in coup to is one. just explain for our viewers what did happen. i think this was the place where isis showed how horrible

the acts were out and for example all men some coach or nearly has been killed and all women to 30 years old for example jehmu out who is one of the famous popular women who was in the hands of isis have been slaved and solved at the slave market in in mosul and all children which is very important as well have been sold as child soldiers so all the pictures which all of us saw are from cordial and i think this was a big deep pain which is still there and there are many is it is who are also very happy that the pope is coming and of course the people are hoping the religious minority that could be a sign which helped them maybe i mean how well prepared is iraq for this visit while the whole state with its abilities security ability of militaries and also

lived. no by waiting to receive the pope this extraordinarily visit to iraq i think this is your a key issue is one of the important point but also are you confident that things are going to go well yes of course i think. it could manage that i think there is a long discussion has been have been have been between the pope's guards and also iraqi securities and many visiting have been have been also the the white house is going to move but it is the question is not this is the question what are the political in iraq is going to do with that visit with the result of that visit it is just a small a good. idea no good do awards or or after the war there is going to be something action in the ground just to come together just

to constrain and focus and to rebuild the country this is the big question that many iraqis are now asking themselves. interest not question exam do you are somebody who can question the wisdom of the visit a little bit yeah as i indicated earlier i feel it's like maybe. there are some it's like online and certainly it's not the same. but i feel like you know. travel for pleasure vacation or being a pilgrimage it's now not necessarily the time to do that. there's this story that's been going around when it would start to touch on it's just a little bit since there's been the suggestion that the pope's delegation the media delegation they're all going to be inoculated against the against the coronavirus but the local people in iraq i'm not you know how have that looks bad yes i think of course it looks bad and we have to be careful and take care of all people in the

world not just the pope the pope and for example so i think that. must be very important how to live with that and to bring hope of course is something very important but how it's also a question in terms of corona fundament i talked with the one of the cardinals is responsible. he's iraqi from iraqi iraqi curch he's responsible to manage and look istic yesterday talked to me told me. the pope himself also wish just to see that procedures to all be 100 meters between the people he want also to send that message i am here not to bring you a dangerous but are here to give you hope and please keep careful of your healthy and this is the procedure is going to see it i think is the footage that we are going to seem to more. important because we have seen several like religious

gatherings that germany to baghdad let's chill an outbreak because if you receive communion or whatever it's going to be if it's a master will become millions of people will be like very close to together so that could be like so i'm happy to hear that the vatican is very cautious about this. but what the bible teaches now says pope francis is that we must act tirelessly on space macon's and that means that we should especially strive for reconciliation between the religion here's a short report. the pope has a message for the arab. world as well religions want peace it's others who want war . travel to egypt in 2017. in cairo he met with grand ahmed. who is considered an important figure in sunni islam pope francis wanted to engage muslims as part of his initiative to promote

worldwide brotherhood and peaceful coexistence 2 years later francis became the 1st pope to set foot on the arabian peninsula once again he met with grandma and. their shared message faith others the brothers were sisters must love and support both however received sharp criticism from religious hardliners for this convergence which is also sealed in writing. other stops on his travels in the service of world peace include morocco and now iraq despite the challenges the pope wants to carry his message of religious brotherhood to the country where all 3 major monotheistic religions have their roots is the pope's reconciliation mission more than just symbolic politics. and we saw from egypt i lived in egypt quite 18 years ago and started it. all

and there as much as i can you have like for decades now the. conversation if you will and that's an interesting thing in the past i feel religious leaders were very much prone to just you know make. you see their villages leaders try to. understand. terrorist groups or radical groups within the church or other religions try to undermine this effort so of course the church having like now 5 decades since the. second vatican council of interreligious dialogue and having the style of for instance with university but also institutions in iran. that is of course more than just a symbol that rests on decades of like mutual understanding to start speak to you it isn't i think it has to be more than a symbol because there are so much challenges especially for them i know in this

country that the people who have the big hope that there could be more than simple politics. it's a huge burden for them because it is and it's not just that which will make the change of course not but i think in a region where people who are. belong to minorities like the christians. this is also very special because we're still talking about the fact that they don't have the same rights we're talking about an ongoing genocide we are talking about the feel. instead of what is happening in the future so we are we are talking about sri 40000000 christians who are in the sweat and worldwide and in the places i think in the 11 side. and i think this is it could be something to make clear this is the country of

muslims christians and all religious minorities and therefore i think it's more than the. the majority muslim population and in iraq has looked on and seen terrible things happening to the minority christian population shocking shocking things i don't need to quote older figures we're all familiar with the figures. was why is that a sense that the muslim population is open to the message to the pope is bringing with him. i think the question could be are they open each other from both side for each of the other for the messages this is the most important question i think it's make no sense just to send a message to the allies are and as a just receiving i think it is open communication get and take i think when the pope is going to meet. this tiny in and out of this is this is.