it's very different from what you describe. i'm hearing deep satisfaction that the united states is back there were reengaged with our allies and partners i'm also hearing deep concern about some of the actions your government is taking but with the mutually agreed diplomatic protocol scrafton china's foreign affairs chief deflected criticism of its own human rights record by pointing back at the u.s. world. in regard to human rights well we hope the u.s. can do a little bit better and this sounds great not. only with the us as human rights issues are deeply rooted it didn't just exist during the past 10 years slaughter of african-americans has always been a problem. so. with a chilly start to the new normal for relations between china and the u.s. the rest of the world is watching closely to understand where they fit in in this

new balance between global powers. let's bring in u.s. policy analyst liz a show to look at this closely why why do you think this meeting started off with so much conflict wasn't it deliberate tactic do you think from one country or the other or did things simply get out of hand. i think you could probably say it was a deliberate tactic from both countries both countries this is a huge moment america has been positioning itself from long time as a global power right as the leading global power for the last 4 years america spent a little bit i think the word you could say is hampered it's been a little more hold back a little less able to kind of take up the space that it's taken up in the last decade at least china has been pushing right up against that so trying to was ready they were like we will not simply step aside because america has a new presidency i think at the same time those blinking came in with mike you guys

were seasoned we know what's up with you and we're not going to coming week and kind of expecting whatever you're giving us i think they both just started hugely aggressive standpoints which doesn't i sponsor great conversation that i mean how much cooperation there for him is going to be possible do you think between china and the u.s. with the new biden administration. it's possible what happened in the last meetings this is the 1st real. face to face and this might get some posturing i would love to be optimistic and kind of see that is a posturing on both parts to kind of say i'm the big guy in the room i'm not going to be pushed around you have to treat me as an equal because i think both sides want to be viewed as a strong man or to any other i think it's part cooperation i've already heard rumors that there might be some kind of follow up in april and it might be a way to kind of stage face and say we were strong on their side met us where we

were and i think both places have tried to a little bit we did not i think what's really important is to keep looking back it was by going to have repeatedly said which is at the end of the day this will be in the u.s. own u.s. american interests and i think china's going to come to the same table which just just makes cooperation so difficult now you've been involved with u.s. china policy development what is your assessment what do you think would be the best way forward. i think recognizing that the other side. this is a new world order i think you know it's just sad this is a new form of world clumsy that not your side has experienced before what i think will be really interesting is i worked at the state department in an office of intergovernmental affairs a time when there was a lot of tension between for example u.s. and russia what we continued seeing was cooperation at the sound national level you had governors from russia coming to america talking about trade talking about human

rights talking about economics and i think you're still going to see those movements with chinese partners and u.s. partners so maybe well on the federal and national levels there is this tension in this stalemate we might see a really great productive cooperation at the subnational i want to be in governors and mayors across the 2 countries. as a shell k. u.s. policy analyst thanks very much then alice's. thank you oh. let's take it now at some of the other stories making news around the world this hour young environmental activists have staged protests in cities around the world as part of the 1st global climate strike of 2021 swedish activists created to lead a demonstration in her hometown of stockholm she criticised world leaders for failing to treat climate change as a crisis. tanzania has its 1st female president of the sort of whose house took the oath as head of state following the sudden death of john mica foully she'll

serve for the remaining 3 years of his term. french prime minister has been inoculated with astra zeneca as corona virus vaccine it's part of an effort to rebuild public confidence to france and other countries briefly forced to estimations over fears of blood clots on thursday the european medicines agency concluded the shot was safe and effective. and as we heard the a.m.a. has vouched for the safety of astra zeneca has shot but added it couldn't continue it would continue to monitor rare cases of blood clotting a team of german scientists now say they have found out more about the clots and how to possibly treat them so joins me now from date of the science sophia what did this team of german scientists find out about the blood clots. so scientists from the university of kind of side which is in northern germany got 6 blood samples from the polish institute which is the german federal agency for their prove

a vaccine and they say that they studied these but samples in great detail and that they were able to connect the vaccine that shows any comic scene to a special form of immune response which leads to the formation of the blood clots that have been observed in these patients we have to keep in mind that they only looked at a very small number of samples only 6 not samples and that there is all to have not been approved by other scientists and they have not even been reviewed by the institute right what do we know yet who is at high risk of developing this i mean response no unfortunately we don't we do know that in general young women and middle aged young to middle aged women are at the highest christe of developing this kind of from bose's but we don't even really know if astra zeneca vaccine actually heightens the likelihood of developing this form of thrombosis at all on

the other hand the good news is that because the scientists were able to study the mechanism in such detail they're also pretty convinced that they'll now be able to treat it very well if symptoms are cured while the european regulators said on thursday that the astra zeneca vaccine is safe and effective but of the link to red blood clots cannot be ruled out that's a bit contradictory isn't it can you explain what they mean. yeah i think it's a clear case of weighing the benefits against the risks so we do know that in general the risk to develop this special form of those is is really really though and so far only a very tiny fraction of the patients that have gotten the astra zeneca vaccine have developed this format from bose's on the other hand we do know that the astra zeneca vaccine is highly effective in preventing especially severe kovac 1000 cases so i think in this case the benefits clearly away the risks. from data

resides thanks very much for that update. germany has all of the scientists who won the race to develop the world's 1st covert vaccine the married founders of the drug make a bio and tech has been awarded the order of merit they achieved their lifesaving breakthrough largely by starting work on a vaccine well before their rivals. it's an award for services to the nation and yet this couple's extraordinary achievement has global dimensions. and groundbreaking discovery is saving lives in life we hooked. it's ensuring our social economic and cultural survival. if you didn't give him time a person is vaccinated and we take a small step back towards normal life and towards the life we miss and the people we love so don't mention. we believe. of this i'm certain

seldom has a scientific achievement of such existential importance been grech you can. get certain. words shine founded by on take in 2008 at their company's headquarters in mines they and their team had been working on the next generation cancer treatment for more than a decade using m r n a technology that was until news from china emerged about doctors discovering a mysterious new virus spreading rapidly in the city of. at 1st the world didn't pay much attention. to it did even before the world health organization issued its 1st major warning the biotech team started working round the clock less than a year later there vaccine was approved in many countries around the world. that not only earned them one of germany's tires but also thank you letters from around the globe. we have of course as we saw grandparents reunited with their

grandchildren doctors and nurses that no longer needed to be worried about their relatives and when they read messages like these i can say the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. for ted. but to end the pandemic shine emphasizes one last big concerted effort is necessary he appealed to people to remain cautious . through this 2 thirds of the way are already behind us one 3rd is ahead and i'm absolutely sure that if we can do this we will get the pandemic under control. like everyone else shine and to ritchie will then be able to return to normal everyday life and for them that means getting back to work on their regional mission of developing a new treatment for cancer. and i say look now at some other developments in the pandemic infections in india have hit a 3 month high driven by a spike in the state of maharashtra its capital and its capital mumbai mexico is

restricting non-essential travel across its borders with guatemala and billie's and russia's sputnik vaccine has been approved for use in the philippines which is battling a surge in cases. in football now in the draw for the quarter finals of the champions league has been made and holders by in munich faced tough opposition as they look to retain their crown the varians drew big spending paris sunshine in a repeat of last season's final going to sleep as other representatives for assia dortmund also face a financial powerhouse they play manchester city with the 1st leg to be played in england in the other ties rael madrid play liverpool and porto take on chelsea the quarter finals begin on april 6th. you're watching date of any news has a reminder of our top story diplomats from the united states and china have traded barbs at their 1st meeting since president joe biden took office the u.s. called beijing a threat to global stability china to cues b.o.'s of poker say. from

a finale next up is bent as we look with alcove at 19th special show coming back with more news at the top of the hour and in between you can always check out our web site that's d.w. dot com i'm rebecca races thanks for watching we'll see says. the fight against the corona virus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context the coronavirus update 19 specials. on t w. y 2050 more than half the world will be living with limited water resources we haven't had to think about our war or worry about. i think that

era is over misses the crisis of our time it's a financial problem like any other financial. the world is changing to most important commodity jumpers called the free for all it's a necessity for commodity starts march 22nd on d w. the urgency of the coronavirus pandemic has seen an unprecedented surge in scientific innovation one breakthrough originates right beneath us wastewater tells an intriguing tale of a city at the movement of a virus in the old it's mutations. and early warning system. but strangely one that some governments that turning their noses up that. well it does stink no one wants to talk about it or go anywhere near it but monitoring waste water the

traces of a pathogen can provide a detailed picture of an entire community without the biases and limitations of regular testing methods. this sewage treatment plant in frankfurt may not look very exciting but there's a lot more to waste water than meets the eye. professor says on the lochner analyzes it to detect the presence of a nobel corona virus that's up on the wastewater can also give us information about which mutations are to be found and which catchment areas. the environmental scientist on her team at the technical university of darmstadt have developed a method to monitor how much virus is circulating in a particular area and to identify which strains are present to see if say the brazilian or british ones are spreading the method has met with considerable interest in other countries. let me see if the method is ready for

years and it is in fact already being used in the netherlands the united states and spain in cooperation with their health authorities. it's not being used in germany even though it could function as an early warning system if it finds the virus in one sewer but not in another stock could help public health authorities focus attention and resources on areas where trouble is brewing even if the people there who are shedding the virus have no symptoms of not being tested. but you can use the data as to make the infection rate in the catchment area around the sewage treatment plant that could help you decide if you need to do more or less testing or whether or not to relax for stricture and based on the readings you're getting from the water. it's not clear why authorities in germany won't embrace this early warning system the method was developed in cooperation with the frankfurt sanitation department but the city hasn't started to

use it we asked the health department why that is in a written response it expressed doubts about its practicability at the university of baum we talked to martin exner a professor of public health who approves of the new method and thinks it should be used this is how we interpret the authorities reticence to deploy it is often sickly saw. it appears there are abiding by rigid principles and are finding it hard to embrace new ideas such as waste water monitoring. and i think we need to both demand more courage and offer more encouragement in this area. and germany's association of towns a municipality s. has also weighed in on the issue. i will play anything that helps us combat the pandemic should be made available that includes monitoring waste water with them when toys. but for now this potentially valuable system developed in germany is not

being used in germany critics say that's down to an abundance of bureaucracy and a lack of courage how more and out in the worst case such inertia could cost lives and you would have seen suzanne a lot in that report she's a professor at the waste water engineering and joins us today thanks for joining us to being on the show why do you think germany hasn't embraced this early warning system of yours. well thanks for having me well i think it's it's a federal issue and you have to you know in isolation and in the states the system that we have between the west and the sector of the sectors is not prepared for facing. this is basically an accurate. some of thora these argue the system isn't practical would do you agree. no i mean we already have that must go just ready we can we can start. this

and in time to sink we have to be aware of the patients but it's definitely out of the experimental stage ok to understand this let me pose the question differently why have the netherlands and spain and the united states embrace this is the. i mean for the nun ceasars i understand i mean they they have thrust fault on this already. years ago was this a polio virus and there's a much better connection between the public health sector and the water sector already and this seem to have a better management of us already are also seeing more and more potential in this mission that's why they are. having a bust maybe to add that i hope that interim and you will improve because also the european union just the persons recommendations to include wastewater placed a particular g. and the best model tory. and will support the member states already i am still

optimistic also along with this well suzanna could you explain to us how it actually works your system. what we do is usually take samples from we get samples from the test if you were over 24 hours they are collected we bring it to the lab we do some some preparation and extraction and then we basically go ahead with a similar analysis tools that are used in the medical sector one miss the quantitative p.c.r. of the other sequencing we get the same types of missions one from the subsets and the information you get you've said is less biased than official figures could you explain that view point. yes i mean what we get is basically an unbiased picture of what's happened and happening in the catchment of the treatments because people may not want to get tested and may not feel sick but they will all go to the toilet

so that's why we get a. sense of better picture and also what's going on and even though it's basically a pool sample that we have we can still monitor or of a lot of the virus coming in or even now of mutations that are actually and can adult also be used to estimate the actual number of infected people. and from what we've done i wouldn't be hasn't time to do that and your colleagues have tried but in that sense i will say we don't know where he must from the from the medical side how many. how much was one person actually excretes and. i would i wouldn't do that but i've always question here so people who are more capable of doing that. at the end of the day couldn't this also be used to trace other diseases other infections definitely i mean i think everything that is

somewhat in the water and can be spread by water or through through the waste water can be detected and i mean we also work on to truck resistances and that is a big issue and it will what will remain a big issue we can also use everything next now and all the concepts that are made for tracking resistance genes or even other pathogens tiriel irises and everything that is and this goes to water let's hope that the germans can overcome their bureaucratic problems than and take this out it would be nice to see it as an alumna great to have you on the show today thank you. well from one star scientist to my favorite scientist and correspondent there it williams with the questions you guys have been leaving on how you tube channel of virus evolves constantly as it replicates just like living things do its genetic code changes because mistakes

happen as that code is copied by a living cell that gives rise to what are commonly known as mutants now for complicated biological reasons not every mutation leads to actual physical changes in the viruses structure now for complicated biological reasons not every mutation leads to actual physical changes in the viruses structure but but when it does you can begin thinking of that mutants as a variant now a variant is generally considered a strain when it's wandered even farther down that road and acquired characteristics and behaviors based on its new structure that clearly distinguish it from other earlier forms so you could say that although all strains are variants not all variants are strains let's maybe make

a comparison from the macro world we've been genetically engineering dogs for thousands of years through selective breeding and it's pretty astounding how different they can book but dogs all share common characteristics that allow you to instantly identify an animal as a dog whether it's a chihuahua or a newfoundland the different breeds can be viewed as variants on the canine genome but go far enough back and split off another evolutionary branch and you end up with. the modern wall which has a common ancestor but some distinct characteristics and behaviors that allowed us to instantly identify as a wall so if they were viruses then breeds of dogs would be variants while dogs and balls would be strains now i'm the 1st to admit that the

analogy is imperfect but maybe it makes the terms a little easier to grasp. so mutants variance strains thank you dark and in more dog news the pandemic has led to a boom in pitch ownership but that's also seen a rise in animal trafficking german police say these little cuties suffering from diarrhea and exhaustion they were passing from hungary through a german motorway check on their way to belgium $101.00 pops it's believed that papers were fake the illegal trade is booming in europe so be careful what you buy activists say $8000000.00 puppies are trafficked every year you can have a huge impact on the health the welfare of the animals tax evasion is also an issue . thanks for watching stay safe and see you again sir.

can you hear me know yes we're going to tell you and how it all stands just. and so it's now we're bringing you i'm going to back off i'm here to have a surprise yourself with what is possible magical really what moves them want. to talk to people who follow along the way maurice and critics alike joining us from applesauce stocks. and the tony pushed. us right now in the world climate change is a whole story this is my place the way from just one week. before it's going to get. we still have time to. i'm going.

to i. think this is the w.'s africa coming up on the program that caused a wall in ethiopia's to grab a region something fights and begun to dry back continued concerns about human rights abuses monsters fleeced men so people on the go in shelter each of those also coming up. signs in ears that somehow saluted me.