this is g w news live from berlin tonight germany headed for an easter shutdown tougher coronavirus restrictions are on the with chancellor angela merkel has announced the country's most restrictive lockdown yet public life will come to a halt for 5 days beginning april 1st people are being told to stay home although flying to spain is still an option also coming up tonight the polls close in israel's election the 4th in 2 years low turnout suggests that voters are 15 will the country's vaccine success give prime minister benjamin netanyahu

a much needed boost and. the party is back on it one dutch festival at least but how is this happening in the middle of a pandemic it's an experiment on the dance floor. i'm brinkerhoff to our viewers watching on p.b.s. in the united states and to all of you around the world welcome today people here in germany were told to prepare for the country's toughest coronavirus lockdown since the pandemic began starting on april 1st most shops will close for 5 days easter church services will be cancelled while all but essential travel is banned within germany holidays abroad are still allowed in many cases. well the measures

come after a marathon meeting last night between state and federal leaders. by the time they had finally wrapped up nights had turned to morning energy had given way to exhaustion and what began as a one month partial lockdown is no nearly half a year long chancellor angela merkel summed up the seriousness of the situation facing germany. we basically have a new pandemic. the mutation from great britain has taken over means we have a new virus of course of the same kind that with very different properties. of the guns so it's clearly more lethal more contagious and contagious for longer. that's why restrictions on public life will be extended until april 18th and gatherings over easter effectively cancelled. the easter lockdown will

bring everything to a standstill for 5 consecutive days you can take the wind out of the sales of a pandemic and prevent a new infections but i know it is a great strain for many many of you hope to go on holiday over easter but that is a hope that we were all have to put on hold. not everyone germans will still be free to fly in search of some sun providing they test negative before they return home the holiday dispute comes amid a backlash over rules that allow tourists to fly to spain but not to holiday within germany. meanwhile the aim is to keep schools and childcare centers open with the help of regular testing for teachers and pupils. longer term leaders are hoping that injecting some margin c into their vaccination program will help end the lock down. isn't that know if we're in

a race to get vaccinated and to feel its effect as soon as possible and for us there are now 2 main strategies caution and flexibility here. the meeting laid bare the growing tensions between germany's outgoing chancellor and regional leaders in a relationship increasingly more of a conflict than consensus. oh i'm joined tonight by rolf he's director of the european bioinformatics institute he has also advised the german government during this pandemic mr violence good to have you on the program let me ask you would you have advised the german chancellor last night to extend the walk till well my organization the european molecular biology there were 36 sites in 5 different european countries in germany heads in still has the lightest of all lockdowns. so i think

a long way to go to really fight is endemic as i correctly said we have a new kind of endemic is very is way way tougher to tackle and these measures i'm not sufficiently well what about the 5 days shutdown over easter is that enough to make a difference particularly if we're dealing with a new variant no i don't think it's way to short. program needs to. have much more force on it it's yours. if you're a to try to. bring down the virus in ways tough ways and having also a program which combines. nation which was unfortunate still takes time. more

testing especially records and teaching testing with a combined with better digitalisation but these results could be read by a crew no bone every morning epoch and these results would go directly to local public health authorities thought contact tracing and so on but you need to do more genomes of ames and that you don't need to be in to think local even if it we saw certain things in germany there are still a lot of other countries and in europe and in the world which is still creating a lot of new variants and we need to work every globally together to fight this pandemic mr fawley know what you are advocating is exactly what we've been hearing from the german chancellor now for at least half a year chancellor merkel wanted a hard lock down all the way back at the beginning of know them ber what do you think is going on that is is she able to convince the regional leaders that her

plan is the best scientific plan or is there something else at play here. i can't tell but i think this is the political or some political suffering optimism bias they think oh it will not be as bad as people say invented by no it will it is as bad as of the people say and it ok we need to do a little bit but it will be not as bad as we think so it's not too much. and this is this is not the way you find it condemning in britain big numbers away lua in germany and. essentially strictly looked own decisions in germany decided until me. yeah plus as we said at the vaccination rollout there has been much much more successful than what we've seen here mr rolfe

phyla we appreciate your time and your insights tonight thank you welcome good evening. well the european union prides itself on its open borders between member states but with infection rates on the rise across the continent freedom of travel is being restricted as governments try and slow the spread of the coronavirus germany now requires commuters from poland to get tested at the border a time consuming and expensive process tonight we follow one polish construction worker from one border town on his long way to work like thousands of poles living at the point of rafael mysie ak commutes to gemini for walk every day. but with the coronavirus infection rate much higher in his home country rafael and his polish colleagues now need to pass a rapid results test at the border twice a week they also need to identify themselves with a so-called commuter pass. they have

a positive sign is you'll pass it's been issued by the german company that has hired you through the. always carry it with you and also your most recent test results in with your team in order of the. end of. the queue in front of the test site as long delaying the commuters rafał works as a foreman and he has to instruct his workers over the phone as he waits his turn. to go through the all we need to do to coronavirus tests a week and i don't know what this means in terms of costs i might have to pay for all myself. before taking the tests the builders have to fill out a lengthy form by hand the bureaucracy does nothing to speed up the process. little one thinking. that what china really it's rafael's turn

to his surprise his charge 23 year olds. polish commuters a supposed to receive one weekly test for free but that information doesn't seem to have reached the test center. ever thought through. what i'm relieved that the test was negative and i can go to work. or go. over that soon i'll have to queue up again for hours at a good. all this time wastage and money spent on the hardest growth profile mysie act will be 2 hours late for work. he and his carney might have to walk overtime today. all right here is a round of now over the stories that are making headlines around the world the united kingdom has held a minute's silence in london and across the nation to remember the 126000 people who have died in the corona virus pandemic the u.k. is the worst affected european country and has the world's 5th highest recorded

close with 19 deaths told the united states has pledged to rebuild and revitalize nato after 4 years of tension under the trumpet ministration secretary of state anthony blinken told fellow foreign ministers in brussels today that the alliance stands at a pivotal moment but could emerge stronger despite current disputes within the alliance germany have summoned the chinese ambassador in berlin to complain about sanctions imposed on its politicians and science is calling them quote unacceptable china was hit by european union saying sions on monday for human rights abuses against the countries we grew minority regime responded by saying churning a number of european lawmakers. polls have just closed in today's elections in israel it was the 4th parliamentary vote to take place in 2 years in the signs are that turnout has been low israelis face a choice between blogs that bought back long standing prime minister benjamin

netanyahu and those who seek to alstom netanyahu is running despite standing trial on corruption charges with the opposition fragmented opinion polls suggest that the vote will once again lead to a shaky coalition that if one can be formed at all. i was going to our correspondent on ukraine as she was following the elections for us in jerusalem good evening to you tanya the polling stations have closed only a few moments ago what do we know already. well this is of course the moment that everybody's waiting for now the 3 main protocol is ready t.v. towns have now published in the 1st exit polls and exit polls i have to stress that because they will change most likely over the course of the night and will be updated accordingly and then voting begins so what is quite striking is that all of them and that was kind of expected given that it could party mr netanyahu party.

strongest party that was suspected to also increase polling was 2 stations giving him $31.00 seats and i have to stress it is well it's counted in seats a party or a coalition has to attain $61.00 seats out of 120 knesset seats so we have the likud saying 31 to 33 seats and that and yahoo the main the largest party here yes the teeth with 18 to 16 and then of course now we have to look at all the other smaller parties but this is where all of course now all the media is now making the math because we're talking about 2 cans one is the pro netanyahu. smaller parties who have already said they're going to be in a coalition are going into a color could coalition with benyamin netanyahu and those who said. netanyahu and some of them left it open so it seems that it's what is quite striking that all

these 3 acts of posts are projecting a narrow government for a coalition that is possible for benyamin netanyahu the 61 seats and that is something that has been expected but it doesn't rule out the possibility that. he may not be able to construct a new coalition government as has been the case this time. absolutely i mean 1st of all these are exit polls and if it's such a razor thin actually majority then you really have to know now how these figures well you know develop overnight and he definitely needs i mean we're talking about. that he could party and they would probably go together with the 2 old or also dorks parties and then we have religious scientists in which is a far right extremist party that would could also join such

a coalition and then we're looking at one of the parties that has actually said they're out into the until netanyahu can that's the party of natalee bennett. also rising party and he could appear to be maybe the kingmaker because mr netanyahu needs his these seats to coming in between $6.00 to $7.00 seats and only then he would come up to the $61.00 seats he needs but again it's a very very narrow government and as you say the stars really have to come into alignment for benjamin netanyahu to be able to form a government rather easily what happens if we have another still mate i mean i hate to ask you this but it where we have to do you think we could be looking at this election within 2 or 3 years. what i think if you put this to israelis i think this is what they're mostly also concerned about or afraid about i mean i talked to a lot of people here recently they said you know we might see another election in

a couple of months time if this doesn't work out. voter turnout was rather low compared to other elections maybe people have also thought you know maybe you know what can we do you know we have to go on vote and vote and nothing really would changes depending of course who you ask in which camp or which party. you are supporting but this is not yet done these are the 1st exit polls we really need to wait this is the vote count starts right now and that could be also delayed because of the pandemic and pandemic related precautions that are being taken over the course of the day you know a lot of people had to vote in other stations polling stations if you're in quarantine if you're a covert 1000 patients so we will have to wait and see if he shifts is the word we need tonight correspondent on ukraine but with the latest in jerusalem tanya as always thank you. huge swathes of eastern australia remain under

floodwater after a week of religulous ring emergency services which were last year battling and president bush fires are now rescuing residents from inundated homes new hazards are emerging with dangerous debris lurking in the floodwater. to mention the rains have been on stop people in australia's east bridges roads. cars and buildings all surrounded by water. the flooding has forced tens of thousands of people from their homes. rescue efforts are underway to assist those left behind. alone would anybody. days of heavy rain have caused rivers to burst their banks and water levels to rise the day priests making recovery efforts all the more difficult. coming up with one of the. t.v.

screens couches things like that are quite dangerous at this point on and it seems that boats are the only option to save those stranded in the terrain. some residents have decided to stay home and to weather the storm people around us not so lucky. neighbors. so. lucky several areas have been decayed disaster zones with floods and severe weather warnings issued from south east queensland to the border area and the cost of the damage is already being felt. a fair bit closer the war started almost too much. so i thought to talk quickly. to become more. clear and more.

authorities are also offering funds for the displaced they're warning residents to be on high alert. overnight unfortunately some conditions have. conditions a lot during the day many communities will experience increasing heavy rainfall and as we had 5. 1000 people have been evacuated and regrettably we have warnings now for an additional $15000.00 people that may need to be a. while there have been no lives lost rebuilding. the huns and businesses destroyed in this disaster will come at the highest cost for it but here are more headlines now from around the world in bangladesh investigators are looking into what caused a massive fire that swept through aber hinge a refugee camp the u.n. says at least 15 people died and more than 560 were injured tens of thousands have been left homeless nearly

a 1000000 refugees live in camps in the region the republic of congo's veteran president has been reelected with more than 88 percent of the vote dennis sussman gesso has been in power for more than 36 years the vote was boycotted by the main opposition and further overshadowed by the death of his only major rival from 19 u.s. president joe biden has called for a ban on assault weapons and tighter gun control measures after the shooting at a supermarket in the u.s. state of colorado 10 people including a police officer were killed in the attack in the city of boulder and injured suspects has been detained. in the u.s. the jury has been selected for the george floyd murder trial floyd's death at the hands of a police officer in may of last year sparked a nationwide protests for racial justice and against police brutality the trial of the former minneapolis police officer charged with his murder is due to start on

monday a little over 5 years ago the brussels airport bombings devastated the lives of many travelers including beatrice state level that the then 17 year old was hit by the blast and underwent a double amputation below her knees but she's bounced back from this tragedy and is gearing up for her 1st paralympic games as an equestrian athlete. training for tokyo beardsley's to level let is happiest on horseback and began competing in dressage at the age of 12 soon she will be heading to japan to take part in her 1st paralympic games for back in 2016 she was at brussels airport when a suicide bomber set off his explosives right next to a resulting injuries caused her to lose both her legs below the knee she battled back and was competing on horseback just one year later now riding for team usa

and her determination is on show in the gym where she works tirelessly. to get out there i want to maintain my autonomy as much as possible because it helps the horses around me just to get into my car myself and to dismantle my chair i need to be in good physical shape so exercising is very important. those working with her appreciate her drive and commitment she loves it here. knows how to work hard but things add up especially with some of the stuff she deals with it adds up so i heard they could be a lot longer than one of our days if she gets if she does a little bit too much she will if she feels it a little more one thing that could help her be even more autonomous is a new custom electronic eggs or skeleton that will enable her to walk independently

. then want to be able to walk sit down get up it will help me a lot in life i will be able for example to put gasoline in my car to do things for which i usually have to call someone else it will give me freedom in the life i have lost since the attacks. still riding on her horse will presumably remain her preferred method of moving around as sea goes for gold in tokyo. wish her luck honestly a club buyer labor who doesn't have fired their coach peter bosch after a poor run of form that sold them claim just 3 league wins this year and get knocked out of both the german cup and europa league that's meant to go over in the december 28th scene and manage 4th and 5th place finishes in the bundesliga he signs have occupied 2nd spot earlier this season but are now in 6 them losing 3 mil

to here in his last match in charge this sunday former stuttgart coach on his faults will take over until the end of the season. all right when was the last time you went to a concert or found yourself in a crowd of hundreds of people in one dutch city for one week yet people have the chance to forget all about the coronavirus pandemic they took part in a test event run by an organization that wants to find out how we can best return to some sort of normality standing shoulder to shoulder while staying say. arm in arm face to face for just one weekend in one park in one dutch city beating hasten people dance like there's no one watching. it feels like before their own eye like immediately in fact plenty of people are watching doctors

government officials and event organizers in an initiative called field lab this is more than a concert it is part of a series of scientific and social experiments the aim to see how people interact when allowed some freedom from coronavirus restrictions everyone here agreed to wear trackers so that all of their moves at the concert can be recorded they will be what it is a little bit of a weird bit but we don't care what mary and they all tested negative to get in and will take another test 5 days after the event if anyone test positive contacts can be traced. is a doctor in a coded. ward she knows what's at stake here and she's confident the risks are minimal everyone hears negative. sorry. partiers are being observed in their natural habitat most people here aren't wearing masks and the experiment requires that the experts don't interfere voss is one of the doctors

working with the film the project and he admits to being just a little nervous people are careful as a beginning and then during the party head will be they will be very much less careful so we want to have the way they party usually because otherwise all the data we would have would be it would be senseless field labs peter libert says he's confident the data will prove that these precautions and if sizes can safely expand i think we can prove that we really can increase the capacity of fishes maybe in steps maybe starting with 50 percent to 70 or 80 percent and in the end we want to have the real goal is to have 100 percent i really hope for everybody in industry as a super art and yet it's get out of business as soon as possible but for now dr buss says party's over we do this to allow more to give more possibilities in the future but at this time people really should stick to the rules outside this pile

of events in other words what happens in beating hearts and stays and feeding. right after a short break i'll be back to take you through the day tonight rebuilding transatlantic ties could a russian german pipeline be the end of those hopes. in

the army of climate change. the customer service. people. what ideas do they have a father future. d.w.

dot com africa negative against the multimedia. click on the counter. more than 1000 years ago europe witnesses a huge construction boom. with christianity firmly established there is a greater demand for houses of worship. and both religious and secular leaders are eager to display their fower so churches become palaces for. the race be. it's to kind of create the tallest biggest most beautiful structure. stone masons builders in the park compete with each other. if i'm going to do our jobs. this is home massive churches

it's towers that pierce the clouds like skyscrapers or. contest of the cathedrals stars people 12th on t w. america's top diplomat is in europe and on a mission to rebuild the alliances former president trump pushed to the brink yesterday we saw western powers target china with sanctions and now nato is focusing on the threat from vladimir putin's russia but is everyone on the same page tonight germany and the u.s. on a collision course over russian natural gas berlin says this is about good business washington says this is a bell poor judgment i bring golf in berlin this is the day.