a new round of restrictions after germany fails to prevent a 3rd wave of the pandemic german leaders agree a circuit breaking hard lock down over easter also on the show. germany's hospitality sector have been hoping for holiday makers over easter what to do now that they're not coming we'll talk to the c.e.o. of the german hotel association. and can america be electrified

electric car makers brace after opportunity i meet a government push for green infrastructure. this is the w. business i'm joined now on in berlin happy you can join us the german leaders have agreed to extend a national lockdown until april 18th a strict 5 day shutdown will apply over easter for only grocery stores are open and only for a single day let's listen to what chancellor angela merkel had to say. well there is a. and that's why the 1st and 3rd of april will be designated one off quiet days with extensive contact restrictions as well as a ban on gatherings between the 1st and 5th of april. during this time there will also be a ban on public gatherings outside dining that has reopened will be closed again during these 5 days and only strictly food shops will be allowed to open on

saturday would also use the. insulin in the interval. now these new measures are coming for germans already weary of lockdowns but it's the rules around travel that have been a particular point of contention it's still allowed but airlines have to test passengers before returning to germany and hotels aren't open within the country it's an uphill battle for german cities dependent on the hospitality sector. beneath a mask she's smiling this is her tickets to something like normality into being and anyone who gets a negative result from one of the city's a test centers gets a pass enabling them to go into shops visit cafes and more. i think it's really great above all i'm happy to be able to have a copy outdoors again. the scheme into being and has led to scenes that other parts of germany can currently only dream off the hospitality sector continues to be

ravaged by the coronavirus restrictions that have been in place for months many in the industry were hoping to be back in business by easter making up at least some of their recent losses representatives of the tourist sector across germany gathered in berlin chancellor angela merkel led the meeting to discuss next steps they didn't get the news they wanted to hear. as an elevator to an extended quiet time over easter some of the point is that over 5 consecutive days people should stay at home. and for an owner it's also we advise against all travel abroad travel to risk areas will result in a quarantine obligation of use violence and to be and in areas where there are virus mutations this will be even stricter and we do not see travel at the moment as beneficial. thought at least. germans are growing increasingly

impatient with the lock down that seems to have failed to prevent the onset of a 3rd wave of coronavirus cases germany's tourism hotspots need things to improve and fast. i'm joined by mark he is the c.e.o. of the german hotel association i.h.s. a welcome to the program now especially the hospitality sector has been pushing for a targeted reopening this but does that make sense especially in this stage of the pandemic with a 3rd wave with more transmissible variants given that people come from places with different coronavirus rates. it's one thing that we have asked for it was a perspective and it was united by the german government. we are the latest to open we are not even mentioned in the measures that we can open to be fine this unjustified not on based on scientific recommendation and of

course we are frustrated tourism abroad is open for drug meant that you cannot travel within the old country with full respect to i-ching conte's testings cetera if you are not you can give them a perspective. right so you're saying that you've been left behind in terms of the discussions now give us a picture of how the thousands of small and medium sized businesses that you represent how are they doing in the pandemic they are of course the back of all we have for 224 hours and the prices in germany we have to drop $4000000.00 employees yesterday's official figures stated that we have lost already one out of 5 employees that has gone to the actors because there is no hope for the moment in the hospitality sector or member of a waiting for help the majority of our members still have not received the nobel.

promised that now they have to pay the march builds for the stuff so they are in a mode of despair and meet urgent help now why do you think strategies like more testing and digital contact tracing for example haven't been discussed more as a way to re-open your industry. we can only consider that result of what you can call a failure of the state that he was not in a position to provide testing or works and they should are all digital tracing tools that do their job and help to fight or combat the pandemic nothing is there they are for a obviously in the mode of despair themselves the politicians decided to lock down shut down the sector totally and even refused to discuss the reopening strategy

this is not working with them marcus later thank you very much he is the c.e.o. of the german hotel association thank you for appearing on our show today michael now to some of the other global business stories making news. sri lanka and china have signed a 1500000000 dollar loan to help the island nation deal with the currency crisis and debt repayments amid the pandemic sri lanka has struggled with debt in recent years in 2017 it was forced to hand over its strategic hambantota port to a chinese company as a result. $25.00 major corporations have called for the g. 7 to establish global rules on digital public policy the group which includes heavyweights like master card siemens general motors i.b.m. and japan softbank said policies must be aligned on cybersecurity cross border data flows and artificial intelligence warning that fragmented policies could stifle

innovation. and in markets news chinese search engine operator baidu started trading on the hong kong stock exchange today let's bring in our our financial correspondent chelsea delineate chelsea are you there there you wore this wasn't the listing that baidu was hoping to have tell us what happened it is a little bit underwhelming the stock basically and a lot of cars today and that's really in contrast to some of these other so-called chinese homecomings we've seen in recent years and by that i mean that the trend we've seen of chinese tech companies in particular choosing to list in hong kong instead of new york because of trade tensions with the u.s. part of this is because markets in general and here's where we're down today after western sanctions on china as well china has really been cracking down on some of its tech giants for competition should it so that is also a concern but overall this was

a strong listing for baidu they raised about $3100000000.00 u.s. dollars and it was $112.00 times oversubscribed so $112.00 times more demand than there were shares available. briefly if you can buy it you used to be called china's google but it's gotten off track in the last few years why is that. so they definitely missed the boat a little bit on the change from p c's to 2 mobile phones that was one of the reasons they fallen behind but they have been really investing in new technology like artificial intelligence and electric vehicles so investors are optimistic that they'll be able to regain some ground. chelsea delaney there for us thank you very much. the u.s. government has pledged to invest around 2 trillion dollars into green infrastructure projects and electric mobility. and wants in on the action following

years of what turned out to be a very expensive emissions scandal especially in the u.s. the w. stephens he once reports. welcome to the shiny high gloss future of transport driving yourself from any to being. in a so-called 0 emissions vehicle or. i am. president and c.e.o. of electrified america and i. never tires of telling americans that the future is already here headquarter to virginia just a few dozen kilometers outside of washington d.c. i like proof for your marriage. $2000000000.00 investment over 10 years in the future of transport. were the very beginning of what i think will be a huge transformation in the u.s. with our mobility. myers echoes what many experts say 0 emission vehicles are

becoming more and more popular tesla market leader with around 500000 car sold last year now has serious rivals for g.m. and other u.s. carmakers are giving chase we haven't seen a lot of advertising marketing yet from our major automotive manufacturers i think that's going to change making evil bill of the mainstream and commercialising it as soon as possible this is where the germans want to come in with a double whammy firstly. is now seen as a if not the top competitor to tesla experts think v.w. will quickly be able to produce high quality electrical vehicles for the american market and on a global scale. but to work the infrastructure needs to catch up we don't have enough infrastructure we're behind europe on infrastructure and here is where like to fight merica aka for once to strike again the company is working on building one of the largest electrical charging networks in the us their goal to set up $800.00

charging stations with up to $3500.00 fast charges by the end of this year that means expanding in dozens of big cities and states and vicious cults and profitable ones they help. primary has made it abundantly clear that they want to make this a profitable business so the money that they're spending on infrastructure is going to support viable and long term charging infrastructure plan for not only for v.w. but for everyone and infrastructure that. fast convenient recharging will face gas stations and in time that's what electrifying america is working not just because it's better for the environment but also because projections for a so-called. west opera right. and a reminder of the top story we're following for you in an attempt to break

a 3rd wave of the coronavirus dynamic political leaders in germany have a great extend a national lockdown until april 18th a 5 day shutdown over. thanks for watching. the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context. of virus update. how does a virus spread. through the town. and. if you would like any

information on the corona virus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast. you can also find us. a year ago 19 special went on a jail to understand a frightening and baffling pandemic. let's bring in our science correspondent derek williams but it's one that has a couple of. masks. today they're essential and we have vaccine. we didn't expect to cope with 19

special to still be a year on but the pandemic is still here. and it's been locked down with another on its way here i'm totally over it a bit you are too and no wonder it's been a year since germany officially classified the coronavirus as a pandemic there are lots of lessons to be learned from this crisis the biggest challenge being understanding how we perceive the dangers of a microscopic pathogen how science progresses and how politicians decide what's best for us i've had to switch from business anchor to science journalists not the easiest tracking the ups and downs of a pandemic what seemed suddenly became a painful reality here at the company. one of them was the fast. 19 from a colleague who had travelled from china the health minister remained optimistic there's no cause for concern. a few weeks later things looked quite different

infections were spreading throughout germany in mid march the chancellor took the unusual step of addressing the nation on t.v. . this is it is serious please take it seriously too that there has not been any such challenge to our country since german unity not since what with 2 that has demanded such great joined solidarity based anxiousness 100 and called germany's 1st lockdown started the streets of berlin were virtually deserted museums and theatres had to close and the economy came to an almost complete standstill. schools and nurseries also closed the living room became the new classroom but online teaching was difficult as laptops and software was scott's meanwhile supplies of protective clothing in hospitals providing no doctors for to keep people infected alive. nearly 7000 of them diet the high number was

relatively low in comparison with other countries infection numbers started to fall the lockdown worked that reduce the burden on hospitals. finally some a time restrictions were eased people return to the streets but the easing of measures brought new infections. by november the numbers was so high that people were told to stay at home again what became known as lock down life began. for months parts of the population have been protesting against the restrictions. but lockdown light wasn't enough shortly before christmas in fact numbers reached such a height that public life was entirely shut down again with alcohol bans in public and even nightly curfews in some places at the end of the gear germany's

vaccination campaign had kicked off politicians promise that those who wanted the job would be vaccinated by the end of summer but many of explanation centers remain empty due to a shortage of doses but the 1st rays of sunshine many are no longing for more freedom when after the outbreak restrictions are being lifted bit by bit but in the meantime you taishan zen infection numbers are rising again all these do not believe is a new role just an founding director of the quest center for transforming biomedical research what was the biggest challenge for you as a scientist within this year. as a stroke researcher at the charity are keeping our research going on in laboratories and shut down work on that simply respect the conditions many of our technicians helping out in morris testing one of the physicians not musically concluded and she is someone trying to analyze consequently trying to improve our

medical research and people and institute our boy this this was busy you know kind of under a magnifying. on the research years on the one hand but also putting our spotlight on the many things we could do even. though it's been a tough year but science and scientists have have never been in the spotlight like they have being in this pandemic has that being good or bad for research. well i think the pandemic has convinced people that science is the best thing we have the key to progress and ultimately be only way to get out. of trouble such as in our own demick i think a good example of this is the changing sentiment against wrexham nations i mean we have evidence that many active x. ers are now or have been converted not to receive the chair what about internationally. i know germany is a special case with the chancellor who is

a scientist herself but what about in other countries well absolutely but and i'm sure there are many national idiosyncrasies regarding the end mccain are reacting to spoke with this isn't one i mean i think appreciation of research and science in general appears to be on the rise. what's enough listening down to scientific evidence when it came to policy decisions where the right scientists listened to and at the end of the day with the scientists saying the right things and giving across the right messages. certainly an area in which we could have fun. it's true that in many countries including germany i mean you mentioned marco i mean scientists have. policymakers and in most countries claim most countries claim that they're anti chronicles are science based but which scientific evidence they live a let to which decisions generally remain completely opaque i think it was in transparent

and one of one maybe you can argue about prioritization and. use a scientific evidence a lot of political reckoning in many cases so to paraphrase darwin i would say it was the ideas that shit so i think attributes of good scientific policy clients should should be inclusiveness rigorousness transparency and asked lexus ability and this is in on how we are resolved over the last year so has the pandemic brought science closer to the people or divided society. well currently societies like stream equal rights and that was certainly already true before corona but it may have been even worse and so so. i think science is being used in part science with the trends scientific findings often are 100 contradictory or are tentative and until better evidence meets our previous

uncertainties. i think that this is a defining element of science and one of its major strengths and the way progress is made however sometimes it is against science and a weapon not science but importantly i believe that in most cases these people do not fundamentally distrust science they they just distrust politics than politicians and i get that they are choosing the wrong research results or make decisions without proper scientific basis so tell me as a scientist what's your personal take away one year on in this pandemic. my personal take is that science right as an international joint effort has again demonstrated its fantastic potential but science during the pandemic could have done even better i mean we have completely failed to provide solid evidence for example for randomised control studies regarding the usefulness and if you can see

up in areas measure us which together make up what we call social distancing so even after more than a year and millions of deaths blood might all of this remains a black box with which we are basically experiment so even you know it's late in the game i think we should start now this i fear will not be in the last pandemic we're facing all this there are other thank you very much for being on the show today thank you. well one institution really has suffered over the past year is the theatre but the show must go on the curtain went up again at the famous bellino ensemble on friday despite the rising coated infections in germany under strict hygiene conditions the play panic chats was performed in front of about $350.00 guests the audience had to test negative beforehand only every 2nd seat was occupied and mosques were compulsory during the entire performance it's

part of a pilot scheme in the capital between 7 cultural venues to find the best way to stage a vent safely during the pandemic. next on the program a concert of the berlin philharmonic orchestra is planned for around 1000 visitors on saturday. for the past year d.w. has confined derek williams to his home study to answer your questions on the coronavirus we've all had a chance to delve into derek's mind and check out his bookshelf so here it is again like every day except today is a little different we had a question we want it to us derek. how much time does derek spend in front of his bookshelves every day. so that there are incidents for. the barrels.

i want to leave behind all the speculation about blood clotting and i have asked her. not to. do. so mixing and matching the. good sam to one of. the.

informative as ever you say it a little more eloquent than that i've been fizzling thanks for watching it's been really nice having you here the past year i have been kicked joining us and obviously the show's going be going on for a bit longer stay safe he gets. to .

pick up. some point in the relegation battle. as i did my listening a close a last minute speech called the lead i'm told a little has changed i am like this i'll give him nothing away but his lucky to win when the 2 teams come up to. get. 30 minutes on d w. 5. workers drives me back in the industry. thousands of

romanians come to germany to earn a decent living. in the romanian job market the gap is filled by asian workers by a social dumping. it's a spiral of desperation a. close up. 90 minutes on d w. i was issued when i arrived here i slept with 6 people in a room as ern thin. it was hard i was fair. i even got white hairs that. lending the german language head me a lot this gives me a little bit nipping to interact with the place you want to know their story the

muslims the fighting and reliable information for migrants. they've been robbed of their soul that's what a people experiences when their heritage is taken from them. countless cultural artifacts were brutally stolen from africa by colonialists and carted off to europe . these thefts left wounds that have yet to heal what should be done with the stolen north from africa. stolen soul starts april 13th on t w. this

is the dog from berlin germany is in a quote new pandemic at least that's the assessment from chancellor merkel of the coronavirus crisis talks tracked well into the morning german federal state leaders have agreed a strict easter shutdown also coming off. a show of force against the west russia and china's foreign minister talking.