the one mistake could spell disaster. the barrier is basically in asia the sterns in in africa in the middle is in the middle of the canal and what you can do is take a lot of weight off the ends and put a lot of what they call a sagging stress on the vessel you conceivably crack the hole cause an oil spill but worst catastrophic li fracture of the vessel in half which would close the canal for months if not years more than $150.00 ships are caught in the traffic jam each passing day piles on the pressure for global trade route already struggling with the coronavirus pandemic a hick up like this that affects. everyone with already scrambling to get back to normal and what have been quite strong demand. and yeah and no one needs another the lay on top of everything out front and the line just how important and how the whole system moves those involved have warned it could be

weeks before the vessel is freed bad news for those stuck in the world's longest mada time tailback. let's get some analysis on the story now we can speak to lars yes and he's the c.e.o. of sea intelligence consulting which advises the shipping industry and he's joining us from copenhagen lars welcome put this into context for us how big of a deal is this for the world's cargo companies. this is a very big deal it's a main artery everything that moves in containers between asia and europe goes through the suez canal and quite a portion of the cargo from asia to the u.s. east coast also goes through the suez canal putting it in context in europe every day we receive $50000.00 containers that have come through the suez canal that's a daily. and we've seen what happened now you have ships stacked up on either side of the canal and they can't get anywhere so what can they do what are their alternatives at the moment. the alternative at the moment is to bite the bullet and

sailed a long way around africa that is easier for the vessels that are not yet caught in the queue the vessels that are just now departing north europe or asia for example some of those have already now diverted they bypassed to the mediterranean and are heading for south africa it's going to take them a week or longer it's going to burn a lot more fuel but that's basically the only other viable option what about the reason that this ship got stuck in the 1st place can gusts of wind blow such a big ship sideways because that's what the owner of the ship said happened i have a hard time seeing that that should be the only reason if that was the only reason we should have seen this happen many times before it is a no a normal common occurrence that you have wind it's a normal common thing to move these ships through the suez canal could wind have played a part that is definitely possible but it is very likely that this has been the confluence of multiple different elements conspiring at the same time ok so the

shipping industry has been very profitable in recent years and us ships have gotten bigger and bigger was this an accident waiting waiting to happen which you say. no that's not what i would say you have had vessels of this size go through the canal for many years not just contain a vessel but also say tango vessels and others the canal is very well designed to actually handle this of this size as well so no i would not say that this is an accident that was waiting to happen and lars how confident are you that this can be resolved sooner rather than later. for every day that has passed now my confidence sinks and if this was an easy thing to pull off we should basically have been there by now so for every day that passes fortunately i'm also getting more pessimistic that this will get resolved quickly lars hansen from sea intelligence consulting thank you so much. now to some other stories making headlines north korea has confirmed reports that it test fired

a new type of guided missile according to state media the pair of weapons accurately hit a target 600 kilometers away it's john young's 1st major provocation since u.s. president joe biden took office new zealand's catholic church has formally apologized to survivors of abuse within the church cardinal john do made the apology at the royal commission into abuse in care set up in 2018 by prime minister jacinta ardern to confront what she called a dark chapter in the country's history nearly 4000 venezuelans have fled across the border to colombia after clashes between the venezuelan military and a colombian armed group broke out over the weekend local officials say that in the shelters where the displaced people have taken refuge a humanitarian crisis is developing. and joe biden has given his 1st news conference as u.s. president he announced a new goal of administering 200000000 doses of coronavirus vaccines in his 1st 100

days he warned the u.s. would respond if north korea increases missile testing and he said u.s. troops would probably not withdraw from afghanistan by the may 1st deadline. ethiopian prime minister abi ahmed says eritrea has agreed to withdrew withdraw its troops from the ethiopian region of 2 gripe i met says ethiopia's military will take over the guarding of border areas amnesty international has accused eritrean troops of committing atrocities in the region thousands of people have been killed since fighting began last november between ethiopian government troops and the region's former ruling party the grey people's liberation front which is also an enemy of eritrea. let's get some perspective on the story now with william davidson he's a senior analyst for the international crisis group an independent organization that has been monitoring the fighting in ethiopia thank you for joining us 1st of all this is a very complex conflict can you explain what troops were doing in the take why

beechen the eritrean and troops essential to have been assisting the federal government and its efforts to overthrow overthrew the regional governments into the war started. to grace governments was overthrown in late november but that government is now commanding essentially record sources and fighting has been ongoing since then so ever trained troops have been involved in that can play to essentially eliminate little that the leadership of grace government as a political force and those eritrean troops also being accused of systemic losing of public and private property and it's a great rampant sexual violence and atrocities against civilians including mass killings now we should mention that eritrean and ethiopian troops have been accused of these atrocities and we've seen reports today that 2 refugee camps and take have

been completely destroyed so what more can you tell us. that's called nation or something which is essentially they know for a while the problem or one of the problems this complex the verifying information there's still a telecommunications blackout almost a total internet blackout across to grow so it's been hard people to get information out it's very very hard for any sort of independent actor to visit there is the refugee camps reports have come out of course but now we have confirmation because you might say that is a theme there that the refugees are being displaced we don't know where all of those refugees have gone some of them will be displaced in stingray some of them seem to have been captured and taken back to eritrea and others will have fled further afield and hopefully their whereabouts and you know this safety will be exposed and your calls if this is indeed a withdrawal by eritrean troops what does it mean does it mean an end to the

conflict and take us. the day that you apply that you know if this is indeed a withdrawal it's very important because this is a stated commitments with all those troops but is there a mission of the actual engagements overtrain troops in this country which is very significant and the understanding is that as the conflict has intensified in the last couple of months so has the eritrean engagement given that it seems that it indeed there is a complete withdrawal or a trend troops. in short order that would have a major impact on the conflict dynamics it could lead to increased strengthening of the armed resistance in degrade and it is hard to imagine egypt is federal government entirely crushing this rebellion if eritrea troops withdrawal there for easy give us federal government looking to pursue some sort of the go straight to this conflict well that follows from this announcement but it has been no sign of

the government seeking to go shake it's fiction so far william davidson from the international crisis group thank you very much for joining us thank you very much now bangladesh is celebrating 50 years of independence from pakistan the occasion is being marked by a controversial visit from indian prime minister narendra modi critics in bangladesh accuse him of stoking religious divisions in india neighboring india came to bangladesh as aid during the war that followed their independence forcing pakistan forces are to concede bangladesh has since become one of asia's fastest growing economies and has made major gains in improving its citizens quality of life. december 971 indian and pakistani troops are locked in a bitter battle to liberate a car. then capital of east pakistan when it would all but ensure an independent

state for the bengalis. bangladesh at the time was known as east pakistan on the eastern flank of india it along with west pakistan from the nation of pakistan. but led by this man shaikh more people of amman is pakistan's been gollies feeling alienated and abused revolted against their government. a brutal military crackdown ensued. soon india's hand was forced and it intervened militarily. pakistan lost the war and with it the state of bangladesh was born. with women as its 1st president. and in a bloody conflict that cost an estimated $3000000.00 lives according to government figures. and displaced more than 10 times as many. since then has seen political assassinations and coups. throughout much of the

eighty's the country was run by the military. and by the 1990 s. democracy had returned. and in the 50 years since bangladesh gained its independence its earned praise for turning its war torn beginnings into a hopeful future for its young population. and for more on the story we can speak to at a photo islam from bengali it's good to see you 1st saw india has played a central role in bangladesh's development what is the state of relations between the 2 countries right now. india has a strong by literal trade deal with bangla this trade in goods between the 2 neighboring countries was $9450000000.00 u.s. dollars in the $2928.00 going to financial year bangladeshi is at the intersection of india's neighborhood fast and act east policy the larger development partner largest cleared but not in the region and the location for india's largest

a piece of partition in the world according to the foreign secretary of the hindu majority country indian prime ministers not in the movie and bangla this prime minister sheikh hasina are expected to sign several agreements including one for his or not connectivity doing this trip but nor did tears have been offer surely released as yet however many bangladeshis see the relationship as closely one sided meaning india gain some more from me than the muslim majority country while we mention the hundreds of demonstrators have protested and all these visit why are some people so angry with them. there are several reasons for the protest and what he was chief minister in the western indiana state of in 2002. live to more than 1000 people did allegations that loud and even in corridors to the bloodshed have long followed more the who was. denied having any to all

india's supreme court has said it found more evidence to prosecute him but bangladesh reporters still call him. out and ek use his hindu nationalist party b.g.p. office talking and he leads us polarizer shown in india and this community against a minute it is particularly muslims many bangladeshis are also aren't happy with india's unwillingness to sign a watershed in treaty for the study of or one of the many devoted to between the 2 countries given that context what signal do you think their mother is sending now with this trip. status aid to countries shared in a relationship partnership with bangladeshi is an important. neighborhood fast policy and we have to fight the deep end diversity fight he said however what is stupid is mainly focused on bangladesh celebration of independence and the visit

also has a political agenda at his home as voting begins sandow day in several istiklal elections including was to bengal which borders bangla this weekend are you on a galvanizing hindu supporter in the key battleground state movie is set to visit the hindu temple outside dhaka that is. more to a community back in west bengal the sex of what is expected to be don't mind that we know of at least 7 seats in floors of s 4 of the state assembly at a fattal islam from your bengali thank you. thank you but let's move now to the corona virus pandemic and take a look at some of the latest developments there india has recorded its highest number of covert 1000 infections in 5 months there have been over $59000.00 cases in the last 24 hours argentina is stopping incoming flights from brazil mexico and

chile after rising kopek $1000.00 cases were reported in those 3 countries and the new restrictions come into force on saturday and romanian authorities have announced that easter celebrations will go ahead despite a surge in covert 1000 infections prime minister fluorine kids who said worshippers would be allowed to attend religious services while respecting health and safety rules passengers on flights to germany will likely have to produce a negative codein $900.00 test before being allowed to board as the country struggles to contain a 3rd wave of the coronavirus the move which is still to be approved by chance i will medicals cabinet follows concerns after german tourists rush to book flights to the spanish island of majorca for the easter holidays currently only passengers entering from designated high risk areas are required to show proof of a negative test upon arrival well german health minister ian spawn and public health officials have been speaking about the latest pandemic a pandemic developments here in germany let's bring in our chief political

correspondent melinda craving for more details hi melinda the head of the infectious diseases institute here has said that not only is germany in a 3rd wave but this could be worse than the last 2 that is troubling tell us more about what was said. that's right both he and the health minister warned in no uncertain terms that we are already in the midst of a 3rd wave that cannot be halted but at best tempered they said that because of the new variant of the virus which is both more infectious and more dangerous we are seeing rising numbers of cases and rising severity of cases in basically all age groups in the population including people of working age and also also children and young people's so they both said that this has a very serious implications for the german health system and they called on all germans to essentially take every precaution at their disposal saying if you are

offered a vaccine please do get vaccinated where your mask limit contact to other people and get tested more frequently and as you mentioned there is also now a new rule in place that will require all travelers to germany to get tested let's hear a little bit more from the health minister. i think about the middle kind i'm under no illusions this entry regulation alone is not the game changer for the easter period situation is too serious for that and the infection rate in germany is too strong the numbers are rising to its past at the moment and the virus variants make the situation especially dangerous. if it continues this way and check we run the risk of all health care system reaching its breaking point during the course of april. so serious words there indeed from

yet on and also from the head of the german center for disease control and yet this week we saw the government pull back from a decision that had taken at the beginning of the week to essentially extend a harder lock down over easter and the chancellor essentially giving responsibility back to the federal states and cities saying that it was up to them to develop more innovative testing strategies if they want to open up more so a somewhat chaotic and for many people confusing picture in terms of how to fight this new 3rd wave despite that somewhat chaotic picture as you said we saw the chancellor also calling on germans to look ahead with optimism how much optimism do you think is left in germany right now not a lot of people really are very confused and if we look at public polls that have been taken in the last few days they show that an ever smaller share of the

population is saying that the measures currently in place are just about right around 31 percent think the measures are just about right 37 percent would like to see them tightened they would like to see stricter measures put into place and we're also seeing a slight uptick in the number of people who reject the current set of rules we're also seeing declining trust in the government so in fact this is very much taking a toll on people's confidence in the situation our chief political correspondent allan a crane reporting for us there thank you very much. to sports now and germany got their world cup qualifying underway with a convincing 3 nil win against iceland the game when i had asked are you an arsehole tested positive for the coronavirus putting him and another player in quarantine germany wasted no time taking the lead opened the scoring the 3rd minute and added another just 4 minutes later than in the 2nd half made it 3 nil this

was germany's 1st match after coach you could live announce that he would be leaving after this year's euro. now orlando by virginia woolf is a fantastical piece of literature that sees the hero journey between 3 centuries and 2 genders now german choreographer has reimagined the work for moscow's also a ballet russia is not known for its tolerance of the l.g.b. t.q. community and critics are expecting the production to cause quite a stir. queen elizabeth the 1st played by a man but this is no company drag queen playing for laughs the cross-dressing portrayal is serious and dignified. german choreographer christiane spokes production of virginia woolf's novel orlando plays with gender identities questioning the established male and female roles

a provocative choice for a country like russia where conservative social values still hold sway with this kind of pull quotes you want someone to say it's not a provocation at least it's not my intention rather we take a very poetic approach to having a mom play a queen or that the orlando rule stands by a woman and of all the times. the noble describes the magical transformation of a young nobleman orlando into a woman. spoke to us all good and over in the role the lightness and elegance of her performance makes changing genders seem like the most natural thing on earth. for carter orlando lives to be more than 350 years old without aging. done that on monday i didn't understand the strange novel by virginia woolf right away there was a long process of finding our way in the material the choreographer wanted me to

stay natural and remember that i'm a woman even when playing a man i kept that in mind despite the challenges. and those challenges weren't just inside the theatre russia is in the midst of the krona virus pandemic it has the 4th highest level of covert 19 infections in the world moscow has the highest number of deaths from covert 1000 within the country yet nearly all restrictions have been lifted in the capital bars clubs and restaurants are open theaters. by hiring spoke currently the director of the zurich bali the bolshoi has been able to mount an international production despite the pandemic there were 9 choreographer as enjoyed working at the bolshoi. my despotic and my language comes out of classical ballet so i respect the tradition of the bolshoi on all levels i'm a huge admirer of this company and of this ice. folks are on there was

a story of space and time and the importance of appreciating the hero annoy a valuable message for on certain pandemic times. now whether we remember them or not we all spend part of our sleeping hours dreaming now scientists in brazil think octopuses do as well researchers observed an octopus sleeping at the bottom of the tank change color while its muscles twitched and eyes move and this led the observers to conclude that octopuses make with 0 through a state similar state to the rapid eye movement or ari m. phase of sleep which would start to be unique to mammals and birds now that just leaves the question what are octopuses dreaming about. let's get a reminder now of our top stories experts say it could take weeks to free a container ship blocking egypt's suez canal over 150 other vessels waiting to pounce through the shipping lane. and ethiopian prime minister abi ahmed says

eritrea will withdraw its troops from the ethiopian region the 2 groene ahmed says he feels his military will take over guarding the border areas amnesty international is accused eritrean troops of committing atrocities in the region. up next our debate show to the point looks at the new american president confronting russia and china and ask the question can the us went.

to the point. clear positions international perspectives. labeling vladimir putin a killer accusing china of genocide against the regular people the biden administration consigns russia and china become the us when that's our topic on to

the point. that you can't read the. next level of detail or follow up. it's a constant companion it. makes us a little. headaches dizziness and tonight is just some misses that can be caused by not. listening. and what can we do about it. good shit. in 60 minutes long t.w. . the. little guy writes this is the sub in the 7 percent stuff but what often is truth to these issues is sure i guess. you know hardest

so i doubt we're not afraid to touch on the delicate topic of africa's population is moving fast. and young people clearly have the solution to your job. is 77 percent now look at me on t w. labeling flatter me a protein a killer accusing china of genocide against the oig or people the bible ministration has taken off the gloves when it comes to relations with 2 of the us main rivals with hard. rhetoric against russia and china the u.s. president's apparently looking to make good on his pledge that america is back and won't be pushed around both rivals responded promptly and angrily how prepared is

the u.s. for a dramatic deterioration in relations and will america's allies go along with biden confronts russia and china because of the u.s. when. you. come up. welcome to to the point it's a pleasure to greet our guests matthew continetti it is from the u.s. magazine politico and he says biden's foreign policy course won't lead to confrontation it will help the world avoid one by making clear to both china and russia where the red lines are. it's great to have leaning with us once again is from the berlin daily debt target spiegel and his opinion if all 3 big powers abandon any sense of caution then a very messy escalation could follow. and it's

a pleasure to welcome hunch when leading from d. w.'s asia desk she thinks china's will for your diplomacy is a mistake the more aggressive it gets the closer the west will be drawn together. so that fewer you talk in your opening statement about red lines and as we all know red lines can become an embarrassment for a leader who doesn't follow up with deeds so let me ask all of you but i'll start with matthew how surprised have you been at the harsh rhetoric coming from joe biden and his have been astray should and is there a risk that they're overshooting the mark. i personally don't think that they're overshooting the mark i have been surprised because i think that over the past several years there's. been a lot of question about what u.s. foreign policy is and what matters to the united states when it comes to these issues and i think this was really the goal that biden was pursuing with this was

to say you know we do have values we're going to fight for these values we're going to stand up for these values globally and to make clear that what we've seen over the past several years is an anomaly and that it's not all just about trade it's not all just about making money that the united states is still going to stand up for people's rights for human rights when it thinks it's necessary so i think that the real audience was not so much the regime in beijing or lattimer putin but the public at large the the global public as it were so biden essentially saying he's the not to trump what do you think were you surprised at the harshness of this rhetoric and do you think it's overshooting. i was both surprised i'm not surprised not surprised in a sense that because biden has already made it very clear before he became president. that both parties will have to be harsh on china so he already

said that so i wasn't surprised that. the rhetoric has become so harsh but also a little bit surprising the sense that the meeting in alaska the way they spoke to each other in such a such a blunt way a clear way i was actually a little bit surprised by that and i think it's important for the u.s. it was an important step for the u.s. to actually make it clear to. its audience in the domestic market so they say in the u.s. and also to the audience in the. that the u.s. this fact i think it's it was the right step for us and we're going to take a look at that meeting in anchorage in a moment but. question to you were you surprised and what do you think about overshooting i was a little surprised i mean it is a national politics and security questions that sometimes the difference between

being right and being wise. you can be right about call development putin a killer or i would doubt that also the harsh human rights violation already is something like a genocide but but even then the question is is it wise to do what purpose does it serve if you on one hand serve the the rhetoric of the communist chinese party because they say all the while the west is doing it's an unsuccessful regime but the only weapon they have is the morality and they try to to. try to have the moral supremacy of our system by pointing to that it might feed just the rhetoric without any consequence if you afterwards sit down with them and talk business. what really what kind of. following what and we want to talk in a moment about whether it's still possible to talk of business then particularly in the wake of the january attack on the u.s.

capital both russia and china have depicted the u.s. as weakened by political divisions pandemic mismanagement and economic instability biden's reassertion of america's moral authority appears designed to prove those accusations wrong even at the price of increasingly bitter relations. it's a fast meeting of top u.s. and chinese diplomats that biden here on the mood is prosti. will also discuss concerns with actions by trying to including actions wrong hong kong taiwan cyber attacks on the united states economic coercion toward our allies. each of these actions threaten the rules based order. that maintains well stability. in response china brings up racism in the u.s. rejecting any interference in its domestic affairs. our hope is that when talking

about universal values or international public opinion the u.s. side will think about whether it feels entitled to say those things because it does not represent the world it only represents the government of the united states. it was. 2 days earlier joe biden made serious accusations against the russian president in a television interview you know vladimir putin i think is a killer. or do so what prince must approach is going to pay well you'll see shortly from the u.s. president didn't clarify whether he was alluding to the poisoning of russian opposition leader alexei navalny. the response from moscow was calm. as biden said we know each other personally what would i replied to him i would say i wish you healthy i say that without any irony. but what is joe biden hoping to achieve with this harsh rhetoric. matthew and

i want to pass that question right on to you you said clearly biden signaling he's the non trump but beyond that what is he looking to achieve and what is he likely to achieve well i think one of the main goals he has is to bring other western allies on board to the u.s. position on china and i think that is something where he's actually already had some progress because there have been divisions within sort of the western alliance about how to approach china and whether to look the other way in the face of abuses like the ones against we yours and others and i think part of this is really directed. europe in particular to say we need you to come with us as we approach china going forward because there's been a wholesale repositioning i would say of the united states' strategy towards china

that began under trump already a realization that the wealth that china now has that it has built up over the last 20 or 30 years is not going to result in a more democratic china which is what many liberals in the west had hoped and there's i think broad consensus now in the united states and much of europe that that's just not going to happen china is an authoritarian state and we need to be prepared for the consequences of that and act accordingly and i think this is what his mission is. let's talk a little bit about what the chinese reaction was we heard after those meetings in alaska from the american side that behind closed doors the tone was more civil what did chinese leadership have to say about the tone behind closed doors if anything well i think for for china they didn't expect that they didn't expect it to be so

that this home would have been so harsh and i think for china it is now clear that the you as it's not going to be i. think because before before the meeting there were still a little bit of hopes that the you as might actually still be its allies because it's biden after all it's not trump it's like a little bit more predictable maybe that he might be a little bit. he might go just go a little bit more like the. track but i think after this meeting it's just very clear that the u.s. it's not going down that route that it's going to compete with china and what are you hearing from china in terms of whether they think it will remain as confrontational as. that apparently was in anchorage will will there in fact be more trade war more trade conflict essentially more of the trump approach i think

china is ready. for that and especially because of the. diplomacy that it held ready has been trying to do since 17 it has increasingly been harsh on other neighbors when like when they were attacked and they have tried to. like to try to show. the chinese people that trying that china is now strong that it can compete with the best in neighbors and i think china is going down that route that it's focusing much more on the domestic market that it's. driving itself away from corporation with the west but try to look into the domestic market how can how can. people from the chinese people think in like about china it's much more important for them not to himself has repeatedly said that there are certain topics and areas on which

the u.s. must cooperate with russia and china be it arms control climate change do you think that a pragmatic approach that off so late between confrontation and cooperation is actually still possible side by side with this maximum pressure rhetoric. of pressure there's nothing in international relations to more powerful that accusing someone of committing genocide who's the strongest language. on the other hand i strongly hope that both the chinese and the americans do know what you just said that they have to cooperate on. lot of a lot of topics. so i think that the chinese side knows very well that it is more or less serious symbolism rhetoric symbolism of a set because on the one hand what kind of morality are you showing if you accusing

somebody of committing genocide and talking to them for too long days and which in alaska and said we had some intensive talks and things like that that doesn't sound very convincing. russian the u.s. actually very quickly decided to restart the nuclear arms agreement start after biden's inauguration now following this accusation against. russia recalled its ambassador from washington for the 1st time in decades won't this bitter turn in relations make further arms control negotiations were difficult no i think i think just the opposite in fact i mean i my read is that the russians are probably relieved by this because now they know ok this is the position of the white house and previously it wasn't it wasn't clear what their position was going to be and i think the chinese are probably also relieved in the sense that they

know who they're dealing with and what they're dealing with and the russians a look at it very pragmatically they benefit from the start treaty is just as much as the u.s. nobody wants to you know be investing all of this money into nuclear capability certainly the russians don't i mean people forget that the that russia itself as an economy is roughly the size of spain it is it is not on the same plane as the united states it is not on the same plane as china and so this is really actually extending a hand to russia saying look will renew this treaty and there's no reason that they shouldn't take them up on that and i think that's also true of the chinese because you know china also has pressures that it has to deal with with its domestic population and the less money they have to spend on nuclear which costs a lot the better let me pick up on the point you made about russia and china being in very different places in terms of their power to raise. our title and

much of the media reporting about this new harsh rhetoric does lumped together china and russia but the fact is russia is a declining power and china is absolutely a rising one. what impact do you think that would have in terms of the response that we're likely to see from china for example i think. i think what we're going to see is to china and russia it's going to be close it's pushing them closer together. but china and russia they are already corporate in different things like they have. they trade weapons and. they already have that kind of relationship and i think with the harsh rhetoric from the u.s. and with the west it's going to push them closer together even if that's. just gives them the chance to send closer together. or one thing that both

countries also very much share is insistence that other powers including multilateral institute.