there's a steely news line from berlin pope francis arrives for the 1st papal visit to iraq the pontiff is it urging dwindling numbers of iraqi christians to stay put and help rebuild after years of war and persecution also coming up. china shit its focus from the find against the coronavirus to a longer term economic goals beijing also moves to tighten its grip on hong kong.

and the golden bear goes through the dark comedy carries off the top prize at the burly not less the german capital's international film festival. welcome to the show pope francis has arrived and back to us to kick off a historic 4 day tour of war torn iraq it's the 1st time a pope has visited the country the 84 year old touched down in the capital and the last few hours prime minister mustafa me led a welcoming committee before the papal convoy made its way into the presidential palace france's then attended a ceremony to mark the beginning of what he has described as a pilgrimage of peace he also is also due to visit mosul

a former stronghold of the so-called islamic state. father against petzold is a catholic. monk has been living and working and iraq since 2011 he joins us now from soleimani in iraqi kurdistan well 1st off congratulations to you on the arrival of pope francis in your country will you be going to see him in person and what do you hope his visit will bring. yes visit him or visit the must. they. afternoon. myself i am here in the money and so 25150 keep this from their well. we hope and it is who he says intentionally he say to today. his visit to. remotes. and the 3 men remember that the people that there are

a year. presence. there are brought this year. much hope to the christians when you see every t. of 2 who church in. tell us a bit about the christian community in your city soleimani and there has been a lot of persecution of christians in iraq how's the situation in your community. so the money is in this not exceptional because. by parts from iraq the christians oh very well liked it but he really money and we have a long tradition to live together we. we have a community here so the money is not there know very well that city but we have from the beginning from the foundation of the city we have christians here we had to be could jewish quarter quarter and we have of course the muslim neighbors

here and so the money of bus always very much known for its dialogue for the christians have been known for. for mediation between the different stripes here in the region and the christian population of iraq has fallen drastically over the past 2 decades there are reports of under 250000 left in the country do you see a future for the question communities there. there is this of them as certainly a future. we have much to work in iraq and i think especially the christian community is a key community for the construct of the peace here in iraq for the construction for the future i'm looking specially to young

people which are living today year. there are so many young people and there's so much hope. when we have a year or so for conferences so there is very much. much hope for them. and what is the pontiff visit mean to the question. and not only our community but also the country as a whole. christians in general are from middle class and so do. the christians are in a very well respected part of the society. certainly the christians have big questions towards. majorities. and.

the majority the sunni majority sunni sunni bigger minority and majority of. the day be able. to work for the bill for a constructive for dialogue or not and are you hoping that pope francis is going to make that dialogue happen i think he will be he is very much. 'd working on this it is one of the reasons of his. struggle it's not the only one it is also a spirit to one but he is very much. he wants to start the dialogue. or not to start to promote a dialogue player in in iraq. funding and that's all in selling my iraq thank you very much for speaking to tell you today. a year ago

much of china was shut down to help contain the corona virus with a pandemic largely under control in this huge country its leaders now want to get the economy back on track around 3000 delegates are taking part in china's biggest political event the addy on national people's congress they'll be rubber stamping laws drawn up by the communist party elites setting political priorities for the next 5 years. china lays out its plans for this year as it emerges from the pandemic at the top of the agenda the economy and hong kong china was the only major economy to see growth last year the nation is the answering back thanks to its strong response to covert 19 but ranging warns there is much work to be done. as the crew on a virus continues to spread around the world instability and uncertainty are

mounting on the international landscape and the global economy continues to face grave challenges domestically there are still weak links in our works to control corporate 19. the foundation for achieving our country's economic recovery needs to be further consolidated their ears to consumer spending remain and invest in growth lack sustainability. china's economic growth target may be modest 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. terms which. 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. also announced it will boost

defense spending by nearly 7 percent the parliament is also expected to discuss environmental issues and social development over the next week. if you double your correspondent in hong kong has more for us last year in this very congress and posed a highly controversial national security law on hong kong this year china is planning to overhaul the city's legislature what will these changes mean for hong kong or the most controversial measure of this election reform is that beijing is setting up a new screening mccandless them to decide a candidacy of the local that's just a teacher so of though our whole goal is to enjoy a wrecked democracy not the food the mako see ever but. do want to take in this control to to make sure that both the administrative and the legislative branch

under its control so under the new proposal. at the moment as the chief executive is. an election committee which is dominated by probation speakers in the future that election come into will also be in charge of screening their candidacies for the local legislature so nowadays the legislature in hong kong more than half of the seats are directly elected by the people but in the future the candidates will be screened and the fact by this election committee. so we can expect also many and others as the service can expect that the opposition can will be excluded from the political institution and many analysts are actually saying that these proposals might be the end of hong kong's democratic dream how are the city's pro-democracy activists responding to this.

yeah spoke to i have spoken to some of the incumbent councillors politicians on the ground from the opposition came some of them told me that they won't consider to run for any election in the future under the new proposal because they don't think they would have any chance to get through the election committee nomination and also to to to gain a seat without any risk and because the stakes for being a politicians on the ground now is this too high that just yesterday 47 opposition figures were. we meant it in custody and they were prosecutor for national security law as the person charges because of their participation in the primary elections so this send a strong signal to politicians on the ground that they have to face higher risk by running for election and under the new proposal and they don't think they have any hope institution in the future. thanks for that update from harm.

now let's take a look at some other stories making news around the world at this hour police in myanmar have opened fire on protesters in mandalay local media reporting that one person has been killed fresh protests have again erupted in several cities following the crackdown by the military junta which saw 38 deaths earlier this week the united nations is set to open talks on the crisis. britain's prince philip has left st bartholomew's hospital in london where he underwent a successful heart procedure earlier this week the 99 year old duke of edinburgh has been transferred to a private hospital in the british capital to continue his recovery. sending a goes to in california has vaccinated several of its great apes against the corona of our after a troupe of gorilla speak aim infected through the world's 1st primates to be

enough related against code that 19 received an experimental shots to follow specially for. the german chancellor angela merkel is facing widespread criticism over the decision to extend the national shutdown until the end of this month merkel and regional leaders have agreed on a very cautious reopening strategy germany is also lagging behind many european neighbors in vaccinating its population our chief political editor which looks at what has cost the delhi. i am going to america has just reset for 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 make a drastic departure from her strategy so far which saw

a lockdown after lockdown when infections rose the chancellor and her health minister again span under pressure businesses are struggling and public opinion is shifting over the past year angela merkel has used lockdowns as hope prying 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 americal still has the right approach when the chancellor 1st directly address the nation on coded 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 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 those you with the duration and i think we are heading right into a 3rd wave of rule support for the government's coronas strategy is still solid at around 50 percent but it used to be more than 70.