this is e w news live from berlin japan marks the 10th anniversary of the country's worst disaster in living memory led by the emperor and the emperor's the nation mourns the more than 18000 people killed and the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the north east coast on this day in 2011 and led to the meltdown of the fukushima nuclear power plant. also coming not surgeon coronavirus cases in brazil pushes the daily death toll to its highest since the start of the endemic we bring

you the latest from one city that has been devastated by the virus but where many appear to have given up on the. i'm mexico moves one step closer to legalizing recreational marijuana the hope is that it would reduce crime and violence in the country users are a little bit. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program japan is marking the 10th anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami that destroyed towns and triggered the fukushima nuclear disaster. and you're watching a minute's silence there which was observed across the country at 2 46 pm local time the exact moment that a magnitude 9 quake. struck and set off the deadly wait now the emperor now and the

prime minister yoshihiko noda led an official ceremony in tokyo to pay tribute to the some 18000 people who lost their lives really half a 1000000 people were displaced and towns around the power plant remain on inhabitable. and for more let's cross over to journalist who is standing by with a view from tokyo just walk us through what is happening today as japan remembers well as you mentioned earlier a little over an hour ago there was a moment of silence people stopped what they were doing and. folding their hands in the prayer lowering their gaze thinking of what happened and. it's a very emotional day for many people a day of their a complex feelings some people could say you know 10 it's been 10 years shouldn't

you be over it's and this is a saying in japanese sort of subtle but then other people say no no it's sort of it's modern mother it's we are still in the middle of this this is still not over and. for us even though it's been 10 years it's still very fresh it's a very difficult day and some people are torn between they really don't want to remember and others are more like please don't forget us these are the very. sorry i just want to say that we can see that actually that raw emotion from the images that we have been witnessing you know as as as citizens there of japan commemorate you know those who lost their lives those who were displaced by this disaster 10 years on how as a change the country. you know way less than than many people expected on the one hand you have certainly

a lot of progress that was made when it comes to the reconstruction also reconstruction with a view of disaster preparedness and that tsunami alerts for example were improved. improved how how cities where cities are located and rebuilt and how people can escape if there's another tsunami. on the other hand the nuclear issue is obviously still ongoing and it will be ongoing for many decades to come the government is saying in the 24th use this might be over but it's highly unlikely this will happen and it's kind of we're going back to this this nuclear power thing being a taboo topic it's not being talked about and there is really no discussion and the government has included a few hours again in the latest energy plan so. not too much changing at the moment ok and what we know in terms of the situation currently on the ground that there is still this 300 square kilometer exclusion zone remaining in place around the plant

it contains all of these memories of the tragedy that has defined the lives of the survivors i'd just like to get a closer look and then get your reaction there after sure let 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 27th. 70 o'connor who 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 grow a pool i don't find it time misted still he said 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. body there being a wall after respect nature these are nature's warning signs that you must treat the earth with care. you've got of ok you can feel. some you know 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 west. of it and 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 that we're only in year 10. will be going on for at least the rest of the century japan has invested billions of euros rebuilt sounds or constructed entirely new ones but they are 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 people know how they

don't want to 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 we're back now with journalist on you have lost and sonia you know before that piece you mentioned that nuclear power is really a taboo topic right now in the country but how do japanese feel about nuclear power when they do weigh in well according to surveys 75 percent are against nuclear power and that's a big number and considering that number it's all the more surprising that the government doesn't really take that into consideration you will find pockets of people and villages where they say ok we need nuclear power we need this otherwise

we don't have any industry in our village so that's obviously a different story and all very different kind of problem but most people are very scared and just earlier in this ceremony in tokyo one of the survivors from fukushima he very strongly appealed to the government to take more measures because there's another. place where there could be another very. quake and there are also nuclear power plants along that sea coast so and there is there is the fear in the awareness that this could be repeated in a different place again into the sun but the view from tokyo thank you. aaron. and we are joined now by sean there now he is a senior nuclear specialist at greenpeace who we saw in that report just now sean

thank you so much for joining us and i just like to get your view on on the nuclear industry and the impact that fukushima has had over these past 10 years there has to be some 50 nuclear power plants operating in japan now there's only 4 how do you see the impact on the industry and where do you think it is right now. good morning yes today obviously a tragic day for the people of jakarta. in terms of the new current history they have remained in crisis since 2000 though as you said there are 4 nuclear reactors accretion at the moment x. and 9 have restarted over the last few years japanese government is trying to restore around 13 correctors to get 22 percent of its out to sea by 2030 but basically they can't reach that target because of technical problems because of safety issues

a large part to do with the intervention of the japanese people and lawyers who are challenging the industry from brokerage in the reactors so it's not very clear how the japanese government and industry to move forward at the same time there are clear signs of a debate within just cram on the fact that they need to decarbonize the shutdown the fossil fuel industry but they also need to not operate nuclear power find even within the ruling party ministers increasingly talking about the importance of renewables and that's really a lesson that they've learnt from germany. absolutely and we know that you know it's just under a quarter actually of energy production that's coming from renewables in japan right now the vast majority is coming from fossil fuels as you have mentioned some some 70 percent tell us a little bit about you know the lessons that have been learned now when it comes to you know 10 years on from for the sheema and what needs to happen next and the

energy industry in japan in your view. well part of the problem is that if you have a commitment to create nuclear reactors you need a regulatory system allows the reactors to operate and that's still the situation we have that you can ignoring major issues just seismic risks you heard about the 9 controls in major us but why new nuclear power plants in japan so the regulator although it's a different regulator from 2011 is still captured on a government post and so you have a serious problem whether it's a curtain or prejudge the people are saying no at the same time in the 'd current us through the utilities including turkey although they see a future for renewable xli there themselves would not get enough rest and so they put obstacles and leave the group. is sort doubled in the last 10 years to vote 72 percent vote to see it could be much larger and the question is whether over the

next 10 years actually to see significant growth and always through proposing measures to support renewables will there happen john bernie joining us from greenpeace where you are a senior nuclear specialist thank you so much for joining us on the deputy chair that you thought. now let's get you up to speed on some other stories making news around the world the united nations security council has released a statement unanimously condemning the violence against peaceful protesters in myanmar it calls on the military to exercise restraint and engage in constructive dialogue language threatening further action was removed after opposition from china and russia. u.s. secretary of state employee blinken has described violence in ethiopia region as ethnic cleansing and called for the withdrawal of eritrean troops washington's most senior diplomatic called for in reconciliation process troops for peace with 50000

people have been killed since the war broke out in november. the us congress has approved a sweeping pandemic relief package the 1st major legislative triumph of the buy in and ministration the covert $1000.00 bill is expected to be signed into law on friday the measures include direct release payments for most americans and billions of dollars tolls local authorities and business. well the number of daily covert 900 deaths recorded in brazil has climbed above 2000 people for the 1st time over 270000 people there have now lost their lives due to the corona virus a death toll surpassed only by the united states. scientists say that brazil's current wave of infections and deaths is being fueled by in more contagious virus variant now it all started in early january in the amazonian city of menow still hospitals there ran out of oxygen and people died waiting for medical attention

health experts fear complacency has now set in and that could lead to more virus mutations developing and spreading reporter johann ramirez travel to. you see linda is back to live in a normal life in meet john wall reach an early date when the health system human hours collapsed she had been infected with the newest strain of the coronavirus and needed oxygen but this city run out of feet by the sea we'll see how. it's sam to a book a lipstick. this was my head the more religious people said it was a sign of the end of the world that image was really was an item that you know i never thought i would experience such a dramatic moment the moment the film that i'm much less seen it's a moment the sea descends to pop forgotten this is the main market in my house even

those stores and businesses are only allowed to to operate at 50 percent of their normal capacity and this by the scientists have warnings about emergence of more and more dangerous variants the market is always overcrowded. about 13 new strains a figure on a virus had been that that death in minot was one off then the one is responsible for 60 percent of current infections in the region suggesting that it is more transmissible and that number is on the rise raising fears of a 3rd wave it could lead it to date mergence or even more dangerous bargains according to divide all ages who discovered that he was trying. to squash people to behave you're a scarce me because they are seen the situation the worse and yet they continue to live as if things are normal so that could mean that we will soon have a much more serious situation. according to the studies by the fia has research

foundation the government of vaccines are still effective against the b. one strain is but a nation center can add mr thousands of those isp or days but even here the oath already is our own they go implement physical distance and. watching the moment when vaccination starts there are always a lot of people but then the crowding goes down when older people count for bikes eventually they bring one or 2 relatives and that's what causes the crowds on the medicine. with more than 7 percent of it's the hobby towns like united states of. sourness where my mouse is located because administering the most doses today to brazil however it is still a far from containing the virus without social distancing people will continue to die from the virus. the c.d.c.'s made space for 22000 grapes in december to reach its and the horrific forecast of what the new coffee to bargains could bring to my

nouns in the future. and earlier we spoke with correspondent sam cali and sal paolo with the u.s. and parts of europe starting to get things more into control we asked him how did things spiral so badly in brazil it's a really bad situation here what we've seen in menow is essentially now spreading across the country where i am here in sao paolo which is brazil's wealthiest and most developed state there are no more i.c.u. beds right now there are thousands of people i 1000 people in baghdad waiting in the queue some people have died in the queue at least a dozen people that we know of have died in the queue you know some part of the huge state what you call a 1000000 people but it really sets the tone of the richest and most developed state in the country is at full capacity. essentially there are 3 main problems here right now what as the as we heard from our colleague in the previous report the new variant which was detected in one hour in january is one of the main cases

of this what we're seeing across the country right now is that the number of new cases that are being detected something like 5 out of 8 are connected to the new variant has been proven necessary at the new variant in itself is more deadly but it is more contagious it's twice as contagious as the original corona virus and in a country like brazil if there's more can if there is if it's more contagious there's going to be more people that die especially as the hospitals fill up the 2nd reason is that the buy actually up. take has been very slow across the country less than 5 percent of people have been acting the you know 220000000 people here in brazil long way to go before we reach the 70 percent threshold which is considered safe and then the main reason that if you speak to all medical professionals is the behavior of the federal government especially the far right president dr olson r.-o. who from the beginning has set to downplay the virus you know when he was in

florida with donald trump it was he said it was an invention of the media to take down the government then he went to being a little flu that he wouldn't have to worry about because he used to be an athlete then it went to being all just man out we've got to get on with things and the thing is this kind of rhetoric you know in brazil which is a country is a middle income country lots of people in the informal economy lots of people you know literally working during lunch times but dinner on the table when the president says it won't affect me because i used to be an athlete you know that resonates but perpetual was that resonates with a lot of people and so the loggerheads that the that the disconnect between the federal government that we've seen here and the state government here like we've seen in southpaw that with the state governor calling on people to really try and you know social distancing going to look down and the president saying no we've got to keep the economy ok we're going to keep the economy running it's just a little flu that's really caused a lot of confusion and is one of the main reasons for the high debt so according to

all the experts i've spoken to. that was with us a short while ago mexico's lower house of congress has voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana use a legislation which still needs final approval by the upper house is partly aimed at curbing drug related violence that claims thousands of lives each year in mexico . mexico's marijuana smokers have every reason to be high their long running campaign to legalize the plant is almost our reality after lawmakers inside the lower house of congress approved the bill that permits recreational use and introduces farming licenses campaigners say the legislation is a step in the right direction. with a small willow cultivation both self cultivation of a number of plants pear parish an unpaired property and also associates of cultivation community cultivation through cooperatives associations and finally the

national production. last year mexican police seized more than 200000000 tons of the plant supporters hope the changes will alleviate the plague of violence wrought by the illegal drug trade though analysts are skeptical among those pushing for a change is a former president turned cannabis lobbyist and. i'm driving the group of the market to take it away from criminals and not is fundamental it will reduce violence. there is no doubt that what this plant produces benefits people patients and those who are willing to buy these medicines. the bill is expected to sail through the upper house of congress before the end of april making mexico the

largest legal pot market in the world. and here are some other stories from around the world at least 27 people died and 39 others were injured in a boss crash on indonesia's java island the bus was carrying a group of junior high school students teachers and parents when it plunged down a steep ravine police are investigating the cause at least one person has died in clashes between students and police in johannesburg south africa the protests were over college tuition fees thousands of students have been on the able to register to study in this academic year because of money owed some 2020. protesters are camped outside of the parliament in armenia calling for the prime minister to resign nicol pushing young came to power in 2018 on a wave of popular support and promises to reform but now he is facing a reckoning with armenians who believe he sold out the country when he signed the

cease fire deal last week after a 6 year war with azerbaijan over the disputed region of nagorno-karabakh protesters have been gathering since tuesday. yet until recently some 2000 anti-government protesters gathered in the streets of the armenian capital here of on to demand prime minister nicole questionee and step down thank us for several months in fact we are gathered here today because the situation in the country is unacceptable for us there is no statehood in this country at all and we will remain here until nickel question ian's resignation. was going to cause the cries profession ians removal began in november when he signed a cease fire agreement with azerbaijan ending 6 weeks of fighting over the contested region of nagorno-karabakh opponents of the accord see it as a blow to armenia sovereignty. question ian has defended the peace deal saying it was the only way to stop the azerbaijani army taking over even more territory but

it has created a rift between pressuring me and the military and last month he fired a top general who had signed a letter demanding his resignation. you cannot i you know that from today by force of law colonel general only gaspari and has been relieved of his post as chief of the general staff of the armed forces for the. anti-government protesters see the general dismissal as another betrayal. are you. sure they don't get in this way if they disbanded the army in 2018 they imprisoned our heroic generals and open criminal cases against them they have lost the war one might even say not lost but soldiers and they betrayed our soldiers of it's nights off it's this it wouldn't go right john it's. really the country's president armin circassian has called for passion in an opposition leaders to meet at the

presidential residence on saturday to seek a resolution to the crisis it is not clear whether the prime minister or his opponents will attend oh i just want some sports news for you now about the football braman. bede bila failed to nail in their rescheduled match on wednesday evening this after their game was called off due to heavy snow last month josh sargent opened the scoring at the start of the 2nd half a deflected pass landed right at the young americans feet for an easy tap in and half an hour later kevin. netted graeme and 2nd to round out the scoreline to win needs for him and comfortably in mid table felt are stuck in the relegation zone. and in the champions league in the round of 16 liverpool have been to see the side rb live 6 to nail to advance to the quarter finals after also winning the 1st leg mohamed salah score liverpool's 1st goal in the 70th minute study on my made netted

another 4 minutes later also on wednesday parsonage amman drew one all with barcelona but go through the quarter finals on aggregate after having won their 1st encounter. up next on news of this focus on europe taking a look at the german catholic church under fire over its missing handling of sexual abuse cases stay with us.

black snow in southern side. for environmental activist science further proof of the consequences of air pollution and peace amongst. their demanding the relocation of endangered present. but for many. that's responsible is also a major source of reliable income focus on europe. next on d w. into the conflict zone to sebastian germany's july's

follows a lot of those foreclosures those also solutions are national business is a bit lose trying to gas deal with moscow for those nations for the. i'm sorry my guess is we can only use the christian democrats and. this is tell me it's called the choke human rights in favor of business conflict. in 60 minutes. every day counts for us and for our planet. ideas is on its way to bring you more concerts. how do we make see them scream how can we protect how to tell us what to do with all our waste.

we can make a difference by choosing smart solutions overstrained said in one place. the ideas come into a series of little sounds and double. hello and welcome to focus on europe with me liz show germany is currently witnessing a record number of people quitting the catholic church one of the reasons is reports of children being sexually abused by clerics there is a lot of outrage in the ark diocese of cologne which is one of the largest diocese he is in germany for months.