the be. the be. the as. this is did abuse live from berlin and the european union slaps of sanctions on china foreign ministers cite human rights abuses against china's weaker minority to impose the blocks 1st of sanctions on beijing in 30 years. meanwhile a canadian ex diplomat goes on trial in china prosecutors there say he is a spy canada calls them a hostage we'll go live to beijing for the story. also coming up germany has been to a 3rd wave of the coronavirus endemic and returns will tighter lockdown looks likely

americal seeks to toughen restrictions on scope of cases soar that could deal of fatal blow to many small businesses already on the verge of going bust. and southeast australia battles its worst flooding in decades following days of torrential rains authorities say dozens of towns are cut off with more bad weather on the way. i am. i am. i'm serious oh my god it's good to have you with us and we start with some breaking news the european union is sanctioning china over human rights abuses against the country's weaker muslim minority e.u. foreign ministers have agreed to blacklist chinese officials for those violations according to diplomats d.s. will be the e.u.'s 1st sanctions against china since the blocs arms embargo in 1909 following the chairmen square crackdown. and let's get to go right to where

brussels for more on the story our correspondent beyond record is standing by for us there very good to see you bring us up to fill a so in here on these sanctions and what they mean. well the 27 year member states agreed to impose sanctions on 4 chinese individuals presumably the lower ranks of the communist party and one entity but we don't know the names yet these names will be published. today in the official journal of the european union and then this sanctions would take effect immediately sanctions aimed at the probable assets these persons have in the you and there's also a travel ban attached to the sanctions. the entity is not clear if it is a company or the necessary in china we will see these sanctions are meant to hold these people responsible for human rights violations in the sing young province

against you who are minorities and odds are minorities these persons are said to be interned in camps which while aids of course human rights in china is always maintaining these scams location or training camps and from what we know about the sanctions at this point what impact could they have. well these sanctions are highly symbolic the impact for these persons who ascensions would be very restrictive because we don't know if they have really said in the you that it's a symbol because the china was not target of human rights sanctions and it's the 1st round of sanctions since 1989 and china already had said that they will strike back that they would not let this go and they use also not interested in escalating they want to maintain economic ties this china but they at this point they you said

this is enough we have to do something at least a symbol in the direction of beijing all right good of you correspondent downgraded but the very latest there from brussels thank you berent. all right as we said a big step there from the european union let's get the view from beijing now of course fundamentalist bellinger standing by for us there hi mathias any reaction there yet from beijing well in the run up to these sanctions to this decision by the chinese ambassador to brussels has said that the sanctions were based on lies china is denying that it is committing these crimes in seems young so from the on of you it is of course also against the sanctions that china claims are. slandering china with malicious intent there have been no announcements yet of countermeasures but we should expect something like that to

happen within the next few days ok mathias thanks for that stay right there because as that pressure is coming from the european union tensions are now ratcheting up with canada as well the canadian government is accusing beijing of hostage diplomacy at the start of another trial of a canadian citizen accused of espionage and a former diplomat michael covert was arrested 2018 and formally charged with spying last year the case against a 2nd canadian national facing the same charges opened last week a canadian diplomats have been refused access to the proceedings canada maintains both cases are retaliation for its arrest of a senior executive from the telecoms giant twa way. so much has has begun provided any details on the exact charges facing michael coverage here. beijing is accusing him of leaking state secrets to. to abroad so this is an

espionage case he's formally charged with espionage. when we mention that he is the 2nd canadian citizen on trial in china what is behind these cases. well you have mentioned it kind of use this as retaliation or hostage diplomacy and it's pretty safe to say that chinese officials themselves have said that canada held the clues to releasing the 2 of them so there are clearly. clearly. a negotiating value for china it's pretty safe to say that they are hostages at the same time diplomats journalists they have been denied access to this trial why is that. while this is does not come as a surprise china classifies politically sensitive trials out as. national security cases and then they deny access to and the budgie to these $2.00

to $2.00 family chinese nationals tried in so similar circumstance just to gloria's sometimes. and also to foreign diplomats of course china is breaking international law by not allowing diplomats in and it is also breaking mutual agreements with canada but this does not matter i think it's not a surprise that they would not let. if these 2 canadian citizens are as you said mathias that essentially hostages their hostages those larger dispute what kind of support can the canadians hope for here well i think there is of course public support from governments and from the public outside of china not only canadian diplomat showed showed up at this at the site of this trial today but also many others from other western countries from the u.s.

from many e.u. countries so this support is of course something that might have an impact on the conditions that have on but. there's very little that comes be done directly canadian diplomats very little access to them during these 2 years that they have been in jail. specially since the girl called help a couple of visits and tired so the only thing that's probably going to help them is. correspondent my chest pulling reporting there from beijing thank you. now to our other top story here upset because the economy is poised to further tighten its lockdown restrictions german chancellor angela merkel is needing with the regional leaders later to discuss the path forward that is amid growing evidence in germany that a 3rd wave of the koran coronavirus is starting the country has registered almost

8000 daily new cases now in the fall a steep rise in cases was brought under control by a 2nd lockdown but some of the restrictions were ease that the start of marches as you can see here there's been a spike since then scientists fear cases could jump to a new high the exponential rise in cases comes amid growing protests against current restrictions thousands of people rallied in germany and elsewhere in europe over the weekend police say some 20000 people demonstrated in the german city of castle making it one of the largest rallies of its kind so far in germany this year scuffles broke out between some of the protesters and police who resorted to using batons pepper spray and water cannons to disperse the crowds and police tweeted that there and been quote repeated attacks by protesters against emergency service workers. let's bring in our political correspondent thomas a sparrow for more on this story hi thomas as we said there we see these 2 pictures

you have protests against lockdown measures you have infection numbers rising and now a chance of michael's meeting with state leaders what measures are they going to be discussing. and that gives you an idea assuming of just how difficult the challenge is for authorities during that meeting today because of the one hand they have to understand the certain coronavirus facts that people here in germany have many want to actually further reopening stafford on the other hand they have to look at the situation on the ground of those rising cases the exponential growth of more and more hotspots here in germany so what can be expected today is that they'll pull the handbrake on those reopening steps that they had presented a few weeks ago that's why there is discussion today here in berlin across germany that germany will go back to a sort of strict lockdown on these obviously something that's affecting people across the country also businesses across the country m t w news visited one of those businesses to see exactly how they're being affected by all these restrictions. about this homemade chocolate cherry cake is

a favorite with customers at the moment they can only serve it to go. but that doesn't cover her costs at all. by now she's accumulated a debt of around $35000.00 euros if germany were to tighten restrictions again she'd be forced to close down the 2nd about a loss of. 10 top tested if the 3rd lock down is actually put in place then i would definitely have to shut down for good i. think because i'm taking out 2 loans which i'll have to pay back. all the time i just wouldn't know how to go on. many businesses in germany fear for their existence some have already given up meanwhile cases in the country are increasing rapidly just weeks after restrictions were eased and schools and some shops reopened. more people are on the move

exposing themselves to the risk of infection. researchers warn germany's vaccination rollout has not progressed enough to counteract this. often gets heated even if we've already vaccinated many of the elderly there is still a large proportion of vulnerable people who have not been given the job in fits into a time that we still haven't vaccinated enough and that's why the number of patients in intensive care units will rise again. many people in germany are torn at the prospect of tighter restrictions. or guys that i'm not thrilled to because it's been going on for a year now and at some point you're really done with it all allan dorris i'd rather be open than just living it's boring to feel that there are many cases now and we have to be careful. because if we keep everything open then infection numbers will go up and that's a problem. but if we close everything that means many businesses will go bust

bankrupt. because still hopes to avoid bankruptcy she still wants to sell her homemade cakes for many years to come. here thomas we saw there people are frustrated that the vaccination campaign has been so slow is there any indication that it is going to get better. it has definitely been slow sumi if you compare it for example to other countries like the u.k. israel the united states or even within the e.u. there are different reasons for that from bureaucracy to supply problems and that's the reason why leaders actually met last week to try and speed up that vaccination program it's been said time and time again that this is the way out of the of the pandemic so this gives you an idea of just how important this is the next step here in germany is to involve g.p.'s of how many doctors so that they can administer some of those very important coronavirus vaccines is on the one hand expected to help speed up the program but it's also expected to give it some flexibility which

is also very needed in these times germany has a very strict procedure in place who can receive which back which vaccine when and then as well as that is another issue here which is trust and it is also expected that by using family doctors by including them in the process then trust in the vaccine can be increased you know that family doctors and g.p.'s have a very important connection to their own patients as a relationship of trust that obviously the german government is aware of in thomas meanwhile as these issues continue the german health ministry n spine is facing some tough questions over a controversial facemask contract tell us more about that. that's correct so the contract refers to one that was signed between the ministry of health on the one hand the company for which husband actually works this is obviously raised a lot of questions here in germany both the ministry and the company involved have denied any wrongdoing but this comes on top of an already very difficult time for

i'm going to moguls conservatives and spawn is one of them because the conservatives are involved in another mosque mosque procurement scandal which has badly affected the conservatives in recent years service in recent polls so this just gives you an idea of another problem here in germany it's not only about vaccines and it only about rising coronavirus numbers it's also about this problem that i'm going to cause conservatives are now facing our political correspondent thomas sparrow thank you. let's get a quick roundup of some other headlines now a member of parliament from the american city you party has died after collapsing on a flight back to germany from cuba kind of insurance was 53 the cause of death is unclear the tabloid billed as reporting that she was not traveling on business strengths had recently been caught up in a lobbying scandal involving azerbaijan. the main opposition candidate in elections just held in the republic of congo has died a spokesperson said guy brice put

a few at calais last died as he was being transferred to france for treatment for coke at 19 it was the main rival of president then assess the new whistle who is expected to extend his 36 year old hold on power. police in the u.s. state of florida have arrested more than a 1000 people in a crackdown on unruly crowds in miami beach vacation or is have flocked to the holiday hotspot for spring break the mayor says people's refusal to wear masks poses a public health risk and he has extended an emergency nighttime curfew. australia is set to evacuate thousands more people from sydney suburbs as the region grapples with its worst flooding in decades have you rains have swelled rivers across new south wales state causing widespread damage emergency services fear that more than 50000 people could be displaced as forecasts show more rain is on the way. a desperate attempt to save a stranded ha'p'orth. to wrench will rain and flush floods in

a strange state of new south wales have cut onus off from that the most for many creatures help has come too late. at least 18000 people have been evacuated from their homes as rivers and dams overflow. some are trying to shore up their houses as best they can ahead of the looming waters. others have already seen their homes ravaged by the flooding. we think can. happen it's everything. but. the big residents have been warned that the worst may still be to come and told to brace for a difficult week ahead. strive year is being tested once again in. the

east coast of the struggle predominantly new south wales the last risk also in south east queensland has fries to me extraordinary deluge over recent days. in many places rains are expected for at least the next 24 to 48 hours before few worse. the extreme downpours battering a stray leaves east have caused the worst flooding in half a century having already battled drought bushfires in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic over the past year community for a feeling pushed to breaking point. and we can speak now to poppy brown she's the director of the australian red cross for new south wales and the australian capital territory poppy thank you for joining us as we heard dozens of communities have been isolated 38 areas have now been declared disaster zones put this into context for us how dire is the situation right now. oh yes it has been

a very difficult few days here and. as you want to hire say to be about 80000 people evacuated we've supported over a 1000 people in evacuation centers there's a people had nowhere else to go. in some areas it's a once in a century flood event and a lot of these areas suffered in the bushfire as about a year or so ago entraps as well so it's take place been a particularly hard couple of years for those communities and this is just one more setback for them so we're trying to do all are all we can to support them in this situation but it is a very difficult time and you know what are the biggest challenges you're facing right now. so one of the things we're facing is the fact that the waters have risen so quickly so in some areas people have had to be worked in the middle of the night they've had to evacuate just the clothes that they wearing so we've had people come to evacuation centers here just in which close with their

children with their animals and they're in shock they've been traumatized you know all their possessions are in their homes so it's been very very difficult for those people and also a lot of concerns about the livestock in the farms and things like that so it's it is a very difficult time but our communities are very strong and resilient so we will bounce back but all the agencies and the government is trying the best that we can to to help our communities at the moment with tens of thousands of people already displaced and more rain forecast to me what are you telling people and how they can protect themselves. here so what we're doing is we're very much ensuring that everybody has an emergency plan and if people are in those areas they look like they're in danger. but they should do is they should. go and stay with friends and family should pack up their homes if they need to move to higher ground and make

sure they follow all of the instructions that they would see services and then that they would be safe but we don't want to have his people in need to be rescued in the flood because so far we have had no loss of life so we want to make sure that it stays that way there's more rain does come are you worried that the situation could get worse. absolutely so it's a very volatile situation moment i know that. in the sydney area that the dam that the big water dams that supports the city area it's currently spilling over every single day enough water to fill sydney harbor that's the amount of water that's going into the rivers in that. area and then they come downstream and there's a risk of flooding so we're not over the worst yes. we certainly have our fingers crossed that the rain eases and the flood situation eases because a lot of people are likely to be impacted poppy brown director of the australian

red cross for new south wales and the australian capital territory thank you very much. thank you. now belgium is marking a somber anniversary today 5 years after islamist bombers killed 32 people and injured hundreds in the capital brussels the attack turn the spotlight on brussels large muslim community and one district that came to be branded as a breeding ground for jihadists didn't use teri schultz visited the area and met people trying to change that perception. molan back 5 years ago after terrorist attacks in paris and brussels the whole world knew that word and this place this district became infamous as the home base of a handful of bad guys the rest of my index almost 100000 residents felt unfairly stigmatised i was really frustrated and said. i want to really explain to people guys. it's nice with people with quality.

and this is not our truest ybor he was a real also felt lost growing up like those small and black men who would become bombers he dropped out of school at 13 but where they turned to crime he taught himself to code and became a successful tech entrepreneur without the fancy diplomas from expensive schools that many top business people have. so yeah. really nothing he did have something the desire to help others succeed in 2015 while nearby the terrorist cell was planning its attacks was a recreated a nonprofit tech incubator so mullen that kids would have a place to go a chance to dream big what he calls a different ecosystem provides trainees everything for free the rest is up to them

this place it's not for to give to people. it's just people come and take your opportunity. if they have no money it's free if they have no computer we can compute they have no time we are almost 20 hours before you know every day from the single room where he started what cerise ecosystem now takes up the whole building and had a turnover of $2000000.00 euros last year google. c.e.o. soon to put china visited recently to make a donation in person the world is changing was a reset as the big companies recruiting his students are less focused on traditional degrees 93 percent of mulling graduates have tech jobs or have founded their own companies there are also spinoffs in the netherlands and italy we have yet different in the 18 or europe and that we are very pro that with

a bow does because more than get stuck in more than big laura hebert a digital marketing student travels an hour each way from ghent to be part of the mall in geek community i think it's the beth training center in brussels you kids it's like recognise from big companies so when you walk out you won't be ashamed at all to say where you graduated not at all i'm going to be very proud about it what outsiders used to deride as a no go zone is now the place to be. sports now and going to sleep a soccer a big day for 2 teams hoping to escape relegation both air to berlin and minds posted upsets the pulled off the biggest surprise of victory over leverkusen. at the berlin coach paul darvill you knew he had to win or lose this one and it would slowly become mission impossible for his team to survive in the big league so i had to push forward like shoulder before totally overwhelming leverkusen right from the

start and that paid off they scored in the 4th minute with a rocket of a goal courtesy of de or vice euros i 40 with an excellent set up by midfield dynamo matteo gandu z. and doherty look at bok you one nil for hair. the berliners kept pouring it on and in the 26 minute one back what looked like a last ball to set up much criticised brazilian striker but they were. and she smelled goal. too neal for her to and coutinho was back on the scoreboard after more than a 1000 minutes of play without a goal. and it wasn't over yet just 7 minutes later colombian john cordova made it 3 no. and that's how it ended with no goals in the 2nd half. really for hair but they also know they have a long road ahead and leverkusen have some work to do also. and in sunday's les

came freiburg saw their chances of qualifying for next season's europa league take a big step forward they defeated out spoke at home after a scoreless 1st half to send contests run set up the 1st goal by roland shall i went on to win 2 now they are now 8 in the sticks. thank you for watching to debbie .

because india better market economy british service factory make so sustained and don't depend on big companies designer thames and is taking a stance against the cheap garment cranes such a nice club you don't get in the market. it's nice to have an interesting background or from culture to. next on d w. i

was 15 when i arrived here i slept with 6 people in a room. it was hard i was fair. i even got white hairs that. learning the german language helped me a lot this keeps me and they go but you need me to entrap let's say you want to do their story my bloods are fighting and reliable information for margaret. the little guys this is the something to 7 percent stuff up for africa suit big issues his share i guess. you know harvest so i don't really not afraid such a delicate topic africa's population is moving fast. and

young people clearly have the solutions the new job. is 77 percent now complete on d w o. recycling cycling instead of driving protesting for a change despite all our efforts to help the it bob and sometimes it feels like we're fighting an uphill battle but does that mean we should stop trying i don't think so because even our small individual actions get made a big difference this week we meet the people working against all odds to make

change where we are i'm something of a welcome in corymbia. let's start to be as short among the forest welling tribes of culture for generations the state's forests have been their who and primary source of livelihood yet without a legal play off the ship a 2006 indian law corrected the situation but 15 years on many of them are still struggling to pull off the ship and organization in the not district is helping them navigate the bureaucracy and substantiate their lives. since time immemorial the family of gold in the bible has lived near their duty but up honest in god or out they belong to an ancient tribal community the forest is their livelihood and source of food they live without reliable roads electricity or schools things have changed from go in the bible and his family now in the past it

was often difficult. there dug out of the jungle about a war for his department would harass us a lot their game and. when we tried to cultivate the land they would not allow us to cultivate it was very difficult but. in the days of colonial rule the british nationalized india as far as transporting ownership. of the land to the government those who lived from the forest began to be seen as encroachers in the eyes of the law. in 2006 landmark legislation known as the forest rights act was finally passed in india following protests from tribal groups and activists the law states that tribal communities which make up 90 percent of india's population have a right to live from protected land where they have lived for generations under the law any individual or group from a tribal community can claim property rights over forest land if they can prove

that they've been living there and cultivating the land since before 2005. but providing that proof has been difficult as of august 20th teen nearly 2000000 claims have been rejected citing lack of evidence a huge challenge by the village councils all grams of asked to make the claims on behalf of the community. most of the authorities mistaken somebody was in a lot of it is insist for documentary evidence in the form of what is an apartment or something like that when many of the places most of the grounds of us were not aware because this act is very complicated and the past will be carried out by ground so by that also very complicated and unless we go in where if it doesn't is what. not an easy job you. think statements these things and most of the people have not been here by the way. when when i'm rich mantei is

a local tribal rights activist whose organization has been supporting go in the bike and his village council as we tackle the problem of collecting evidence. they're able to produce detailed maps by overlapping satellite images and g.p.s. data. so far over 250 grams of our councils have been trained to better understand how to employ the forest rights act with the. summoning a part of the bottom in the past people who are too scared to approach for this department of fish and speak up in front of the lake. when the forest passed in 2006 people here felt confident that they would be able to get some right so that we could use our land and build this help we are now able to assert those rights. that they got a. 27 year old. has learned how to use g.p.s.

with the help of a g.p.s. tracker he can calculate exact floats of land and produce an accurate map of the g.p.s. findings of them superimposed with satellite image data from 2005 and are used as evidence in the submission of. use of technology for busy a very figure some of claims is a very controversial issue most of the groups are opposed to me because most of the groups feel that this would be this is a meeting process away from the ground. somebody sitting far away and listen officer offices to comment it is themselves they start using this technology they can boast of the place they saw that their names are very demonstrative use. just by what they were saying the console and they can use it not only for the in support of the games they can use it we went to enjoy wrongful use of technology

where the government and the method is clearly working out of the 120 individual claims submitted by the sa guy willage all have been verified and approved the grounds about of some guy was also successful in winning community forest rights which enabled them to collect and sell forest produce like mahmood and medicine of plants this has opened up new sustainable ways of generating income for the community i'm never that us a lot of obama and since 2016 we have been selling bamboo to a paper mill. owner around $6000.00 euros for the dried bamboo. we use that money to carry 25023000 your community members will deliver in logan was a man or woman been lucky together for they are. the ripple effect of what's happening inside i village can already be seen in. the state level committee has

selected this district as a pilot project for verifying the claims of the forest rights act refer to here as . their father you probably remember is not only beneficial for bribery well for bribery. but it's also that if you sell for a moment. like that the community projects around the world working with the grams of our council of said guy he has shown that conservation efforts need to go hand in hand with local residents to be truly sustainable. storms drought beetle infestation and fire your hopes forests have taken a battering in recent years and wild replanting trees has been the go to solution for regenerating forests some scientists say it hasn't. sustainable looking instead other solutions to bring back the. weather beech trees maples

or estens jeannette and aebischer are always glad to see a new member of the family arrive about 12 months ago the 2 researchers began documenting changes big and small to this section of a forest ravaged by fire. we got what we hoped for the ecosystem is starting to recover and certain species are quickly appearing and spreading such as these aspens they've now brought about changes to the area that are in turn helpful for other species. good 6 and in august 28th seen a forest fire raised almost 4 square kilometers of woodland outside the town of twine pleats in eastern germany an area larger than 500 pitches the usual practice after a forest fire is to clear the entire area and replant trees as seen on this private land but not in this case thanks to

a government funded project here dead trees are left standing. local forest the trees think it is testing an alternative solution removing most of the dead pine trees and planting other species in their place the idea is to create a mixed forest that's also home to oaks poplars and other deciduous trees. for me so i can i 1st want to just see which species of tree i could use and how old they need to be before being transplanted carrying out tests is important to get the full picture. and that's when the forest abroad in the expertise of these researchers they're here to find out the best way for a forest to be able to regenerate and. become more climate resistant with or without human assistance. the researchers take a hands off approach limiting their work to observing which plants and animals

settle in the habitat it's a rare opportunity. it's now standard procedure to see to it that we repair the damage that humans have done all too frequently we do not give nature the time or space to do that itself and that deprives us of the chance to learn from nature to forgive him for all the false stuff and. among the things they have learned is that in addition to providing shade dead wood also in the hands of the soil when it falls to the ground it creates more humus which gives the soil more moisture the work is carried out on his test areas is on a smaller scale and is common in conventional forest management there billy accessible by car and he's a wreck did a fence around the forest to keep larger animals at bay he left

a number of dead trees standing leaves have also been spread to keep the soil moist and protected during drought. we're seeing large scale forest fires in the region and that's going to continue so we need to learn how to respond. and that's why researchers in it blue murder is here she's been collecting data on soil humidity and temperature which plants and animals settle there and how all these factors impact on the ecosystem 8 other research institutes are also involved in the project the data gathered over the project's 5 year time frame is being collected at her university and has filed a near bilin but he doesn't have that psych death data shows that natural reach even nation far exceeds the number of trees planted. by humans. up to 3 times the amount. naturally recession compared to the pine trees that were

planted on the area. and number of studies show is that even the remains of trees killed or damaged in severe fires help the forest ecosystem rebound which supports the argument of letting nature be. as we've just seen it's often better. but it's not always possible that people are also rely on the environment for their livelihoods fishing and aquaculture for example employed. by $20000.00 according to the un's food and agriculture organization as an island nation it's an industry that many. on climate change and fishing are having a big impact. have stepped in to help and the communities rely on it let's take a look.

around you know. in the coming. i've been fishing for a long time for more than 25 years and. it's been raining since midnight it's too dangerous to take the boat out. we fishermen have observed how the weather has changed the strong easterly winds that we see right now should have passed by you know. but it's possible they'll continue until notch one that's when they stop last year the weather no longer follows the usual pattern. the rainy season used to engine january and february used to be one of the driest months of the year climate change has changed all that fishermen have to be very attuned to the weather and notice every shift in deviation. kannan 7 you know has 4 children to have already

left home his wife jocelyn tells us they have managed to raise a family even if food that is fish has sometimes been scarce. on the hand. that's what we get from the sea is what we eat and a source of income. that we were able to send our children to school that i was so you know like a new one on me and i'm very proud of that. my husband and i never went to school but it just wasn't possible. later in the morning the weather improved. calling someone you know soon caught 2 large fish killed so the red snapper. head weighs more than 5 kilos.

on a good day he catches 15 kilos of fish the family always keeps a portion and sells the rest to others in the neighborhood. before the pandemic he used to sell to a trader who supplied large markets it was profitable but the markets are closed for now his neighbors can't pay those kind of prices. just an uncertain you know does the bookkeeping. when they have money to spare she deposits it put the savings club. savings. the savings club is like a bank for us. we don't have a bank on our island savings so we came up with this.