pleasures are being to get. the latest research says. information and context. the coronavirus and to. get spiritual monday to friday. to get a bit of that. this is news and these are our top stories british prime minister boris johnson has denied that his government banned the export of coated 1000 vaccines to the european union he told british lawmakers that he opposes vaccine nationalism in all forms johnson made the statement after european council president shot in the shadow accuse the u.k. of imposing an export ban. former brazilian president and the reason that a silva has slammed president also narrow and his handling of the coronavirus

pandemic was making his 1st official appearance since his corruption convictions were overturned by a supreme court justice meanwhile brazil has been posting a record deaths from coke at 19 this week marking 2000 fatalities in a single day for the 1st time. the u.s. congress has passed president joe biden's $1.00 trillion dollar coronavirus relief package over republican opposition it will give a direct payments to most taxpayers as well as extended jobless benefits in a major expansion of the country social security net republicans have criticized the bill for being too expensive. this is w. news from berlin you can follow us on instagram and twitter at w news or you can visit our website w dot com. today texas allowed all businesses in the state to reopen 100 percent and it ended the

state wide face mask requirement the number of people infected with the coronavirus is 5 towing it's not going down and only 8 percent of texans have been vaccinated and yet the governor says we've waited long enough a huge risk in a state where the locals claim everything is bigger for the texas themselves let's hope this doesn't apply to the number of people who could soon be headed for the hospital i'm bored golf in berlin this is the day. it is now time to open texas 100 percent why not. you know the timing doesn't make sense texans have mastered the daily habits to avoid getting coping the last thing. i think you've already had 45000 people lose

their lives in the state of texas and now it's going to go up removing state mandates does not end personal responsibility our concern here is on the health welfare bill. and survival frankly of people all across the country. also coming up a political leaders using the pandemic to put a free press under lockdown the european union today pointed the finger at 3 countries hungary poland and our destination tonight slovenia is absolutely a systematic attempt to control the media to silence the critics and the governments of percentages are not stopping at criticizing the media they are personally attacking journalists they are particularly attacking. to our viewers on p.b.s. . in the united states and to all of you around the world welcome we begin the day

taking the temperature in texas today texas lifted its state wide mask mandate and ended all restrictions on businesses texas governor greg abbott saying it's time to focus on saving livelihoods as well as saving lives but in a reminder of how political the pandemic remains in the us the democrat led capital city austin is defining the republican governor by demanding a citywide mask mandate stay in place in a pandemic the actions of a large state such as texas they have consequences that go far beyond the border almost 20 percent of americans have been vaccinated against the corona virus in texas only 8 percent the number of new coronavirus cases in the state is not climbing but it's also not fall and doctors say vaccination levels are still too low the chances of spreading the virus still too high unless everyone keeps wearing those masts aforementioned establishment you need to know what's expected as it

gets into office at lines and for employees to know what as guess what's coming in . the story you know the rules you know if you want to commit in my business you have to be respectful of other people can be ok being here i did i just let it all. know but it was you know it's a conversation about this you don't need it. it's just each person has their right to make the decision in which they all respect me enough when my 1st guest tonight is dr william schaffner he is a professor of preventive medicine and health policy at vanderbilt university in nashville tennessee dr schaffner it's good to have you back here on the day let me start by listening to president joe biden his reaction earlier this month to that announcement that texas and mississippi with end their mask mandates take a listen. i hope everybody realizes by now these must

make a difference. we are on the process of being able to fundamentally. change the nature of this disease because of the way which we were able to get graphic scenes in people's arms in the last the last think it is neanderthal think united in to be tottering from takeover to mass produce it still matters. and the chef the us president he got a lot of boy back from his choice of words there and i'm going to ask you is it neanderthal thinking to end mask mandates while the virus is still spreading all right i think it is mistaken thinking we're not yet at mission accomplished for sure we're vaccinating more and more people in the united states but this virus is still effecting more people than we want life far we're still at very very high levels and we're coming down a bit but now we've played for most of the country and i am concerned that texas

mississippi and other parts of the country are now removing their masks mandates and masks work they're cheap they're very very effective they protect the wearer and they protect people around us and masks should be the last thing we stop as we fight this outbreak i know i was looking at the numbers 8 percent of the population of texas has been vaccinated so we're not talking about a lot of people and at the same time the number of new infections the case loads they're not going up but they're also not going down we're talking about this plateau does that give these new viral variants the advantage then to come in and to start spreading again of these face masks are not being morn. well surely what we're concerned about is indeed these variants which are even more contagious and the parent strain of british parent actually is likely to make you more seriously

ill if you become infected so we need to do everything we can to reduce the transmission of these variants masks social distancing good and hygiene groups that all continues to work while we're vaccinated but we need to do both sorts of things for a period of time until we can relax you know that especially in texas they've not only lifted the mask mandate they've also lifted all the restrictions on business is 100 percent that means people can go back to restaurants for example for dining talk to me a little bit about how the virus spreads indoors particularly in restaurants well clearly indoors prolonged contact close contact in bars and restaurants and other gathering places including religious services that's

a place that the virus loves to spread and if you have a super contagious virus such as these british variant is that's just an environment where they'll soon be more cases following the cases will come more hospitalizations intensive care unit missions and after that will come the deaths we got new guidelines from the centers for disease control this week about what people who have been vaccinated what they can do now and i was wondering what does that mean if you have a room with some people who have been vaccinated in some here who have it what rules still apply. yeah that's the more difficult question the easier question brant is can a group of people who has x. unaided get together for dinner or game of cards or whatever and then he answers easy that's yes now when vaccinated and unvaccinated people come together the question is who are these only vaccinated people and if they've been careful day to

day or are we in danger of having them bring the virus into that environment remember the vaccines at their best are 95 percent effective not 100 percent so we still have to maintain some caution the governor of the state of texas has said that the people should be able to decide what is best what is right for them we ask you as a public health official is it is it wise to trust the public to take the necessary precautions when you're in a pandemic. you know brant it's less a matter of trust then it's actually a matter of this virus be communicable so what you do for yourself what you decide to do for yourself actually involves others the the image i'd like to have is at

a traffic light we go on the green light and stop on the red light if someone drives on the red light. that that's their own volition that's their own independent decision but they endanger not only themselves and others not wearing a mask is like driving on the bridge it's right there when you drive on red and you're also breaking the wall that's an important point there dr william schaffner from vanderbilt university in nashville tennessee as always our jeff is going to talk with you good to get your insights thank you i pleasure. well tomorrow march 11th will be exactly one year since the world health organization declared the corona virus outbreak to be a full blown pandemic despite shutdowns and lock downs these past 12 months our world has changed dramatically one year ago today china reported the 1st drop in new coronavirus cases while numbers here in europe were beginning to explode europe have become the new global epicenter of the pandemic and as you'll see in this look

back march 10th would be the last day europe's political leaders would be able to talk about the virus with a smile. today may go down in history as the moment when the corona virus mutated geographically we're at the very beginning of this epidemic we have to keep a clear mind that this cannot be business as usual we are facing an exceptional situation it's not an empty what's the methodist be dutch or that he thinks ain't going to work tonight across europe governments are scrambling to put as much space between millions of people and the virus and those who don't know what this is it's a tissue to use them for sneezing and shit and if you don't have an easy user and those you have too strong to do what china just did is that even possible it still does from knowing that we're stopping shaking hands. should be the sort of thing

over to the good of the. former u.s. president jimmy carter says he is saddened and angry about the restrictions on voting while makers in his home state of georgia are considering today the 96 year old carter released a statement which reads american democracy means every eligible person has the right to vote in an election that is fair open and secure we must not lose the progress we have made we must not promote confidence among one segment of the electorate by restricting the participation of others our goal always should be to increase not decrease voter participation. and voters in georgia turned out in record numbers last november electing 2 democrats to the u.s. senate thereby giving democrats control of the u.s. congress republicans say the new legislation is necessary to restore confidence in

the elections but carter says they are misleading the public with lies championed by former president donald trump trump still claims the election was rigged although he has never provided any proof the renowned and respected u.s. television journalist roger mudd has died he was 93 mud was one of broadcast journalism's original titans working alongside c.b.s. anchor walter cronkite he spent 20 years covering politics in washington which brings us back to former president jimmy carter carter lost the election in 1900 to ronald reagan one year earlier it looked like carter the incumbent could be challenged by fellow democrat massachusetts senator ted kennedy roger mudd interviewed kennedy in 1979 and with one simple direct question the hopes of kennedy for the white house were dest the reporting prowess of roger mudd is still

studied and admired to this very day here is that famous exchange followed by months come in terry years later on the stump had a vacancy dominating imposing a masterful officer and personal interview he can become stilted elliptical and at times appears if he really doesn't want america to get to know him why do you want to be president. were i to make the announcement to run the reasons that i would run is because what was interesting about it was how how really discouraged we were at the results of the interview but once you. i took it into a screening room and you saw this the sort of sculpted irish face on the screen and able. to articulate why he wanted to be present airbus

caught all my duty he doesn't know. the right to report it something many journalists in the united states and here in europe take for granted at their own peril today the european union called out 3 of its eastern members poland hungary and slovenia saying they are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to clamp down on the work of reporters we want to take a closer look at slovenia where the prime minister is accused of waging a war against the media with a campaign to label journalists as spreaders of fake news observers say his attacks are creating a climate of fear in newsrooms across the country our correspondent barbara biggs will travel to slovenia and met one of the journalists targeted. journalism is really a walk in the park but being regularly attacks by your own government should not be

part of the job description that is why i have a board slovenian reporter on his experiences when she publishes critical articles right now so on the personal level i'm just fed up on the professional level i'm just very worried because i don't want to be living in a country without a press or without a vigorous press did she was targeted by a prime minister a young team as distinctly biased and leftwing other journalists were compared to prostitutes most attacks on launched on twitter ranging from personal insults to condemning the whole profession he was basically attacking. journalists from the public broadcaster this is something that he's been saying for ever if you repeat the lie often enough it becomes journalism i mean that's what he's been saying in many different ways you know about journalists and about media and delicious is the barrage of smears and personal assaults has become markedly worse in the past year

it doesn't look like this time around. and as the answer took the gloves off even the very same gloves that he used to wear and he just doesn't care anymore even slovenia's national news agency is known for its independence and impartiality finds itself under attack the government is questioning its legal basis and threatening to pull funding. the fact that s.k. is facing really serious of attempts to destabilize it this instability financial instability and or saw this let's say this credit they should return going on especially on social media and especially from the highest rank of stakeholders they're really worrying and they're also about 90 people who are awarded their jobs. so this is a really tough situation slovenia has largely been seen as

a success story among the ex-communist countries of central europe but experts warn that under this glossy the near of the current government is moving the country in the wrong direction she's absolutely a systematic attempt to control the media to silence the critics and of course to regain control of your relevant media and discuss. during the last year day became much more aggressive much more and to going to stick and the government representatives are not stopping at criticizing the media they are personally attacking journalists they are particularly attacking female journalists so i would say that this is really a behavior that of course is not in line with the standards of the union and of course they also feel that there will be some repercussions or that the e.u. will have to make up its mind whether to take a stand and defend press freedom in slovenia as long as there still is a free press to protect in this country. and my colleague who has returned from

slovenia she's back in brussels tonight you need to you. so what do we make of these 3 countries you've got a pandemic going on in all of them and you've got all 3 of them basically targeting journalists that's more than just a coincidence isn't. absolutely i'm in the using the pandemic there have been throughout the last year to tighten the screws even further but let's not forget this has been going on for years particularly in hungary and poland and sylvian is c. viktor orban the hungary and prime minister one this is the godfather of the how to abolish press freedom in your country and they really following his playbook how do you do this you 1st threaten journalists you poison public opinion against them then you start throttling them by new rules and regulations and then you get your supporters and your political cronies to buy up those media step by step and after

10 years of the hungary we see today there is simply nothing left and that is what the others are more or less emulating it's like the godfather redux for the journalists that you love to hate let's take the country that you visited. the government is personally attacking individual journalists they are why. they're attacking them because they can poison public opinion against them this way and it really goes to unbelievable extremes. the prime minister himself a couple of years ago called 2 journalists 2 women journalists who had done a report about right wing tendencies in the countries and groups in the country and neo nazi groups in the country he had called them cheap prostitutes on twitter in writing and that really is that drive you know takes it to a point where you just sort of wonder how is it possible that in the midst of europe somebody like this can be prime minister so what do you do if you poison

public opinion you denigrate people you denigrate their opinions and what the ruling party in slovenia hopes to do somehow is to really get rid of any free media any free journalism that will sort of criticize the government and we know what's at the end of that it's a sort of autocracy and this is not a slippery slope this seems to really be really a steep hill that things are sliding down there and you hope the public is able to recognize this when someone is is hitting someone below the belt what about people in slovenia what what do they think about the media. some of course i mean who are following the more right wing populist a mindset they they they by this i mean you you have the the usual echo chambres in on social media and so those people who follow this they will believe it and it has to a certain extent already poisoned public debate people started to stop believing in

politics at all they think all politicians are somehow just nasty people and have a bad character that lumping the one side together was the other side this time a lot of people also well fighting back against this will start so our media who report freely or if we try to defend themselves but they would need help from the outside of and if they don't get it and if you can continue on this way it's not going to take very long another couple of years and so the new will have been go it will have been going the way hungary has known in the 1st place you know this is a cautionary tale of what happens when you take a free press for granted. in brussels tonight barbara's always thank you. tomorrow japan will poles to remember the natural and the manmade disasters that forever scarred the people and their country exactly 10 years ago

a massive earthquake triggered a tsunami the tidal wave slammed into the coast and set a chain reaction in motion a nuclear meltdown at the fukushima nuclear power plant more than 18000 people died the land around the power plant contaminated with radiation uninhabitable to this very day we have this report now from inside the exclusion zone now me it's a ghost town situated just a few kilometers from the fukushima nuclear power plant the only thing left here is memories from march 28th levon. samuel cano grew up here. nowadays he rarely visits the family home it lies in the exclusion zone. where it's been too dangerous to live ever since. to call it what i don't find it time is did still use it i feel more that everything has gotten worse . now there's just silence here.

but sammy o'connor is still haunted by the sound of the tsunami. and the image of the wave destroying everything in its path is stuck in his mind. or anywhere near where i have to respect nature these are nature's warning signs that you must treat the earth with care and you've got a bucket with your. sammy i used to work at the power plant now he wants nothing more to do with nuclear energy. one look at the area explains why the banks littering the ground are filled with radioactive soil an entire city has been eradicated and almost no one wants to live here cleaning up the damage will take generations thousands are busy on the site of the nuclear plant but the toughest work is yet to come well. there's no blueprint for the work here and

even though we're making progress you still come up against problems you didn't anticipate. you can you want to do much of. the work is recover spent nuclear fuel and make sure the reactors a constantly pumps with cooling water the water is purified but it's still contaminated and it may have to be dumped into the ocean at some point. the area is still in a state of emergency according to greenpeace. we're only in year 10 of the nuclear disaster that will be going on for at least the rest of this century . japan has invested billions of euros rebuilt sounds and constructed entirely new ones but they're mostly empty filled only with those who work at the power plant or the elderly semi o'connor who hates the word reconstruction he says nothing will be

like it was before. the gravesite of his family lies in the exclusion zone no sure not over but just look at what i have to put on the kinds of annoying things i have to put up with just to visit a grave site. it won't be over tomorrow or in 10 years or even decades from now that's why sammi o'connor feels compelled to talk about what happened on march 11th 2011. and that is our world tonight the day it's almost gone but the conversation continues online you'll find us on twitter news you can follow me of t.v. and remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day we'll see you then everybody.

going to the conflict zone to sebastian germany's shilling lights policy a lot of us felt like these days also freshens or national criticism of its little stream to gas deal with moscow and the today show is going to unfold my guest this week on the phone is the christian democrats and an interesting mix this is going to call a sea of jokes human rights in favor of business conflict so for next on the list. its discovery was groundbreaking at the same

time it was the beginning of unimaginable destruction. a comic con whenever something goes wrong all these play down and tough stuff. still in the industry for me because whoever has. the energy and our friends to come. up and. tell you. by 2015 more than half the world will be leaving with limited water resources we haven't had to think about our water only worry about. i think that era is over misses the crisis of our time it's a financial product like any other financial we live in

a competitive world just told it's cool it's cool cool water used to be free but the world is changing the most important moments youngsters call the street. saw the city for commodity starts march 22nd on d w. isn't it time to admit that your government is always willing to sacrifice those human rights for the sake of business if the united states by screwed over $30000000000.00 a year in russia i cannot explain to my electorate why germany should be treated differently germany's human rights policy is on the spotlight these days after a fresh international criticism of its north stream to gas deal with moscow and accusations that it's soft on china my guest this week from bond is the christian democrat m.p. and various nicks is it his government's policy to junk human rights in favor of business.