this is it every news live from berlin a punishing defeat for germany's ruling conservatives chancellor merkel c.d.u. takes a big hit in 2 key regional elections we'll talk to a city you m.p. about the driving at the polls and the future of the party also coming up to. me in mar activists press on with protests despite a weekend of deadly violence there has been international condemnation following sunday's army violence in yang god meanwhile the military has imposed martial law in parts of the city. and the missing face of syria's revolution.

mining against residents it you are it's from the hospice. my son is it tonight was kidnapped by armed men 7 years ago and she's still missing you know the news retraces her steps on the. on the arctic you very much for your company everyone we start this broadcast right here in germany where voters have had a chance america's ruling conservatives a stinging defeat in 2 regional elections on sunday voters in the states of bon burton berg and ryan land palin it's an 8 turn their backs on the c.p.u. and record numbers we'll talk to a leading c.d.u. m.p. about the elections in just a moment but 1st we have this report. germany super election year began badly for

chancellor merkel to conservatives into regional elections they significantly lost support among voters the c.d.u. is in crisis one day later in berlin the frustration was crystal clear among the party leadership isn't going to clearly say that the regional election results are disappointing for the cd used. in. an election result is always a wake up call anyone who doesn't take note of election results who simply overlooks them has simply not understood the meaning of an election the c.d.u. was probably punished by voters for the painfully slow coronavirus vaccine rollout nationwide a facemask procurement scandal involving conservative lawmakers only made things worse. but one party's loss is another party's gain after winning the election in the wealthy state of butler to back the greens were in triumphant mode on monday in . overall we see that fomenting for the greens continues we are starting the super

election year strongly the trend of recent years is confirmed in 2021. photos and i know it's funny similarly the social democrats were eager to highlight their victory in the state of bryan and you know it doesn't this comes as long as the election result especially. into the social democratic party as a whole and. we want to use the upswing to help ensure that we can lead a future federal government to provide a german chancellor on the subject are trying to stand the 2 regional vote and not necessarily a preview of what will happen in september when all germans go to the polls but they do provide clues about what voters throughout the country want what problems they see what parties they like and about what coalitions might be possible at a federal level. for the c.d.u. it particularly they are also a stock warning they have 6 months to recover before they begin to challenge

whether they can hold on to power without time. are we are now joined by patrick sounds very good who represents the city in the german parliament and we'd like to welcome him and get his reactions are we just saw some very high level members of your party reacting reactions ranging from disappointing to this is a wake up call how much trouble is your party in. it so really disappointing the results are really bad for us in this both regional elections in arkansas and on putting up so we're really not satisfied by the results you must know that the 2 candidates who were prime ministers in this states there were strong so we had a kind of feeling that the results were not so good but it's quite unset exciting and it is a wake up call that we have to make our homework we have problems with the rollout

of the vaccination and we have to decide or issue about chancery who is our candidate for chancellor i mean that is of course part of the explanation that you see why you had such disappointing or results in those 2 states to what extent has the recent scandal involving m.p.'s from your party using their political positions to personally profit from people purchases made it look as if they are serving themselves rather than the people how much of a role has that played in this at all. i think it influences the decision of course but we know that 2 thirds of the decision is basically dismayed by regional issues there were strong prime ministers in the country's high vote of voters who voted with their votes before the election day by letters so i think it is an issue and it is a quiet a big issue for the whole party but it wasn't so dramatic in this 2 elections i

said wasn't that dramatic nevertheless said there is some soul searching going on and people are talking about how to you know get a quick fix to the problems facing the c.d.u. with only 6 months to go to national elections you know how do you see this being resolved i think we have to solve our problems in the issue of rollout of vaccination we have to give the people a feeling when shops can be open study what's about the tourism of what's about hotel and restaurants so we have to give them them a perspective i think that's what people want specially before the easter holiday and we have a conservative party we have to announce our candidate for chancellery we have to find a clear position for all the questions of the people so we have to do our homework very quick now has the city you lost touch with the electorate. i don't think so

we are still the party with. the most candidates and delegates in rural areas so we have lots of contact but we have to not just to hear the questions we have to solve the problems the main problems are the problems with. we have to solve lots of problems of with our business in the future and the main issue actually dace it's the vaccination rollout that's much too slow and we have to be faster and find better solution on this issue but of course mrs burke at the c.d.u. has been in power for a very very long time has the time come for the c.d.u. to hand over the reins take some time out from being in government and give another party the chance to be in charge because maybe the electorate is ready for change i don't see that it's time for a change i think that the conservative party covers

a lot of issues if we see the whole program and the whole issues that are important for our country from the economy to agriculture to future issues like electricity energy. so we have lots of issues where my party has got solutions a lot of things are focused now on covert 19 pandemic but i think it's not time for a change i think the conservative party still a big challenge to reach a lot of voters will see what the voters think about that mr patrick a sense burgan from the c.d.u. thank you sir for joining us thank you. next we want to focus on one man mar security forces there have again fired on pro-democracy protesters killing at least 5 people according to media and eyewitnesses the fatalities come a day after dozens of activists were shot dead in the country's largest city young got the state broadcaster says the military has now imposed martial law on 6

districts in the city the u.s. special envoy for me and mark called for international solidarity with the protesters. was deadly clashes continued into the night as fires burned in the streets and smoke mixed with tear gas. on the monitor group's report that over 40 people died from sunday into monday morning the bloodiest day of protests against the coup so far. on the outskirts of yangon and identified attackers set fires to chinese own factories reportedly wounding multiple employees many pro-democracy protesters accuse china of secretly supporting 2 leaders. the chinese embassy in myanmar as you'd a statement saying china urges me and mark to take further effective measures to stop all acts of violence punish the perpetrators in accordance with the law and ensure the safety of life and property of chinese companies and personnel and

myanmar. me on mars military shows no signs of easing the crackdowns the military declared martial law and several large districts of yangon and mandalay the country's 2 largest cities but protesters are not relenting in mandalay hundreds return to the streets on monday morning to call for the release of aung sun suu kyi and other civilian leaders arrested at the start of the coup. a court hearing was scheduled for sujit today but her lawyer reported it was postponed me and maurice deposed leader is now expecting her next hearing on march 24th. i want to cross over now to journalist andrew knacker son in yangon and you give us a sense of the people who are out there on the streets risking their very lives at the moment who are they. the people who are still left protesting are kind of the most hard core group in the 1st month before police started using violence against protesters you had people of all ages and all backgrounds

participating in the protests now are increasingly seeing it kind of doing that down to mostly young people a lot of garment workers and laborers who are continuing to lead and really die hard activists and diehard and all these supporters and there are reports that protesters are attacking chinese owned businesses what more can you tell us about this. there's still a lot of confusion surrounding this what i will say is we've seen every indication that protesters did attack chinese companies in the days leading up to yesterday's protest garment workers and protesters and high profile activists were saying if anybody is killed in the i'm sorry we will burn chinese factories to the ground people were killed in law and chinese factories were set on fire so it seems like that's what happens and why are they targeting chinese businesses.

where there's a kind of range of opinions i think some protesters believe that china secretly supported the crew in the military government i think that's unlikely just because china likes political stability had a lot of projects agreed with aung san suu kyi probably like dealing with aung san suu kyi because she is rational and logical on the other side i do think that protestors have a legitimate grievance with the way that china has kind of refused to condemn the to kind of play both sides and not take an active role so i think that they're you know it's fair for them to be upset and expect more from china and you i mentioned to you referenced the civilian leader aung san suu kyi hearing was supposed to take place today it has been adjourned what more can you tell us about that. so we were told that the year it was delayed due to technical difficulties. cut all those dial

data today but obviously we're still able to communicate over wife ice so we're not totally sure why that happens the hearing has been the way that she's been accused of corruption but not formally charged with corruption specifically she's facing a few other charges so i think it's likely once they hear us get going again she'll get hit formally with corruption charges journalist andrew nathanson reporting from yangon i mean mark thank you. thanks let's bring up to speed now with some of the other stories making news around the world people in the netherlands are voting in 3 days of general elections which are seen as a test of the country's coronavirus policies the nation is under tight restrictions which are fueling public anger police work up and down protests in the hague over the weekend i miss a market that is expected to win another term in office. afghan officials have overturned a local ban imposed on girls singing in public in the capital kabul it was

a furious backlash on social media when the band was announced last week schoolgirl choir's are in regular feature of official events and a constant. thousands of people are rallying in australian cities calling for an end to violence against women the march for justice movement is demanding a public investigation into sexual misconduct within australia is parliament and follows a series of rape allegations against politicians and staffers. entire buildings have been disappearing from sight in beijing after the chinese capital was hit by the worst sandstorm and a decade on the massive storm blew in from the gobi desert and combined with near record air pollution levels choking every day life in the city where hundreds of flights have been canceled and commuters make their way to work through with some describe as an app

a collective landscape. thick clouds of sand and yellows small get enveloping downtown beijing. to learn buckhead coaches of the state broadcast a c.c.t.v. shrouded in the gloom. residents of the chinese capital were hoping that sandstorms were a thing of the past thanks to extensive planting of protective trees and pushes but atmospheric pollution from the biggest sand clouds in 10 years has now reached hazardous levels. that no good looks like the end of the world in this weather i don't really want to be outside. it feels like a science fiction movie. that this is nature in the face of nature human beings are truly tiny and powerless that we must do what we can to protect the environment.