this is. another blow to europe's vaccination attempts germany says the astra zeneca corona virus vaccine is no longer an option for people under 60 and it follows new reports of blood clots possibly triggered by the vaccine tonight we asked what does this emergency decision mean for germany's already sluggish vaccine

rollout also coming out showing there tightens its grip on hong kong beijing imposing reforms that restrict who can run for the city's parliament saying it wants to see patriots' governing but critics see the changes as a final blow to democracy and not enough money in international donor conference to raise funds for the millions of syrians enduring starvation in poverty polls will sure. plus activists demanding that germany get tougher on violence against women the number of women being killed by their partners are exes is on the rise here you news met a survivor who says the justice system is failing. viewers watching on p.b.s. in the united states and to all of you are. in the world welcome tonight germany is

halting the use of astra zeneca as corona virus vaccine for people under 60 and says it will now only administer the vaccine to people 60 and older the sudden decision was announced after chancellor angela merkel and the country's health minister convened an emergency meeting earlier today and it comes amid fresh concerns over unusual blood clots reported in a tiny number of those who received the vaccine there have been 31 cases of cerebral thrombosis here in germany that reportedly occurred after the astra zeneca vaccine was administered 9 of those cases resulted in deaths. were german chancellor angela merkel announced the decision just a few minutes ago let's hear what she had to say. we all know the basis for any vaccination campaign has to be trust we have to be able to trust our vaccines that's why we will wait until each vaccine has been thoroughly

a fast and fulfilled of the appropriate criteria are there was the german chancellor this take this now to our political correspondent the only phone home or stein leoni it's good to see you the chancellor reassuring people here in germany that they can still trust the government's vaccine in vaccination program what else did she have to say to boost public confidence. well both well i'm going to america actually repeated what she said many times that the vaccine is the most effective tool against the pend make and and she in the year and the health minister yet at this press conference just now really wanted to reaffirm that absolute germans can still trust their government that they are taking the risk seriously in order to to have this conference and we just heard it in the in the south from they also said that those people over the age of 60 will only be

administered within astra zeneca shots and those people who belong to a risk group a serious risk groups and suffering from serial illness serious illness from covered 19 that they in consultation with a doctor would also be able to get the astra zeneca shots and then called on the people between $60.69 that is a group that is being added to the groups of people that are being vaccine that they can be vaccinated from now on with the astra zeneca shot to be a role model for others to take that astra zeneca shot in order to to show germans that that it is indeed still effective the health minister repeated that multiple times various times that astra zeneca vaccine is still very effective that this is a precautionary measure and that it will be administered for people over 60 years of age. of this latest you tour

well obviously there is a growing concern here in germany i went to saudi bill today here in berlin to ask some people about how they are feeling about this decision now and this is what they had to say. there's been this call this witching back and forth is undermining confidence it's like they don't want themselves what's right. in there i can't i'm a nurse myself. and i haven't gotten vaccinated yet and i cancelled my appointment on. this muslim i would like to wait until we really know and it's clear whether all population groups should get the vaccine or not a few. is kind of knock out so i can understand that the facts are constantly changing and that we need to make changes accordingly so that's the case with all coronavirus mischa's but there's a lot of scaremongering going on with astra zeneca up in the politicians and the vaccine commission trying to react to it all and only we know that the german

public is fed up with these u. turns us what the polls tell us we also know the germans are resisting until americans push for a hard 2 week lock down i mean the chancellor she is facing tough opposition now to her pandemic policies isn't cheap. yes she is facing tough opposition also from state premiers within her own party there are some pre-state premiers regional leaders who are defending their concept off a policy of easing restrictions while the same time using. tests so the use of quick tests in order to to open up some areas of public lives as life as the pressure from the german public is also growing on the government to actually deliver a path forward so the chancellor is facing opposition from within her own party

from the opposition and obviously i mean we see that there is a growing discontent with the government's handling of the pandemic with the slow vaccination roll out. there 56 percent of germans say they are no longer trusting the government in handling this crisis so this really is a test for the german government. with. yet another pandemic policy we only think you. well those suspensions here in germany they follow a decision by health officials in canada to paul's astra zeneca vaccinations there in people under the age of 55 the move comes after reports of blood clots in europe and people who would receive the vaccine there are no reports of such cases in canada where about 300000 doses of the astra zeneca vaccine have already been given out millions of doses of astra zeneca have been administered around the world as well with several countries relying on this shot for their corona virus vaccine

programs. are let's take this now to epidemiologists eric feigele the he joins me now from washington is good to see you again eric 'd so we've got canada restricting the use of astra zeneca now germany is halting its use for people who are under 60 why are we talking again about what appears to be the extremely low risk that this vaccine poses to people. this is very frustrating for us all kind of doesn't have direct their own they're relying on what's happening in germany but the same time i want to point out most of the astra zeneca that seems the country with the most use of the actually seneca recap is actually u.k. and u.k. actually did not quite find of the same pattern as as germany so you know why i'm not dismissing what the german epidemiologist found i'm curious why the u.k. did not find it because you can have been using your much more and so until i see

it in multiple countries especially the largest actually using country which is u.k. i'm not can totally commit but i understand the precautionary principle but the same time caution principle also says you know we know that the vaccine will save lives in the middle of a heavy heavy pentatonic especially in continental europe and i think people are ignoring the fact that there is a well no major benefits versus an uncertain minor risk and i don't think we're we're here properly and this you turn about face yes giving people there as well and it's very unfortunate ever how do you answer the question then because people are going to pose it this way is the answer isn't it corona virus vaccine safe or not was the answer. i think the answer for me as an epidemiologist is the jury is still out because until it's definitively found

in all the major countries that uses it by the way you know india is a major part largest producer of flashes and vaccine and the u.k. is of course the largest user of it and inventor of it i want to see in these countries if they don't find reason for naama on these. there aren't you asking people to begin to figs the if the jury is still out on a vaccine that supposed to be given to hundreds of millions of human being go out of whether the risk is real or not because i think the jury is not still out about the benefits we know the vaccine saves lives we have all these trials we out we have actually more astra zeneca trials than any other own vaccine trial so we should be able to find real we should find in the other countries that did do it and we're now finding that could continue yet so but we know that life saving benefits especially in the middle. of the global search are already happening in

that one to no benefits way out exceed the adverse risk especially seen in just one country but not the other major countries that use the same backseat this is why i'm saying the overall net benefit is there and i want to see more research of course i think has the research on the overwhelming benefits we cannot ignore ms well that is the elephant in the room that we does save lives and the timing of it of course is horrible especially for people here in europe. as always is going to talk with you we appreciate your insights tonight thank you. our let's take a look now at some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world the u.s. has accused china of withholding timely information about covert 90 day long awaited study released by the world health organization and beijing says the

transmission of the virus from bad state humans is the likely calls not a laboratory leak the u.s. has expressed concerns about the findings pointing to china's slow cooperation and incomplete data sharing rubbish is piling up on the streets of me in mars main city and gone after activists launched a garbage strike to oppose military rule protests started 2 months ago when the army alst of the elected government and more than 500 civilians have been killed in clashes with the military and the police since. china has endorsed a sweeping overhaul of hong kong's electoral system seen by many as another nail in the coffin for the pro-democracy movement the reforms including creasing the number of beijing approved officials in hong kong's legislature china's aim ensuring only and i'm quoting here patriotic figures can run for positions of power. china's leaders voting in favor of giving regular hong kong residents less of

a say members of beijing's national people's congress standing committee or the n.p.c. it see voted unanimously in favor of the new rules 167 to 0. they see the changes is necessary to filter out undesirable elements and to make sure the right people can stand for positions of power for that little this improvement of the electoral system will prevent the anti china rabble rousers from being present in the election committee or the legislative council in order to engage in sabotage subversion or instigation oh that is how we can ensure implementation of the patriots administering hong kong principle the new measures also reduce the number of seats up for selection by ordinary hong kong as for the legislative council previously voters picked 35 seats half of the 70 seats in the legislature

that number is now reduced to 20 while the hong kong's probe aging government welcomed the move saying it was a step in the right direction pro-democracy lawmakers lamented the changes saying they represent a regressive legislative rollback. the pro-democracy camp feels the voice of hong kong people would be completely lost in the debate changes. in the past we know about the major problems that we are facing it's not just about how we thing or not just about whether or not young people can get the social mobility it is about whether the film actually like what hong kong people think on the streets of the special administrative region many hong kong is expressed concern. is also i always think about how it was promised that hong kong wouldn't change for 50 years but it hasn't even been 25 and i think it's already changed a lot that's why i'm worried about my future as well as those people around me. you

get that all right most income kong is already changed what election are you kidding. this isn't an election it's many game that benefits certain people and it's meaningless. with the system of a whole that skepticism could soon be shared by many voters making the 1st legislative elections under the new system in december all the more interesting. and international donor conference to raise aid for the millions of syrians facing starvation has failed to meet its target the virtual talks hosted by the united nations and the european union raised 5 and a half 1000000000 euros in pledges that is 3000000000 euros short of the target u.n. officials say the severity of suffering in the region worsen by the coronavirus pandemic is at an all time high. stranded in lebanon the un is ensuring the survival of this syrian family tom with the equivalent of 23 year olds per person

per month the problem is the ongoing economic crisis means that's no longer enough . sugar and oil have become expensive. to continue help aid organizations need to generate more money this is one of our biggest struggle is to remind that the national community reminds the ordinary mind. the crisis sit creating this if it is the 5th donors conference hosted by the e.u. and the un once trying to raise enough money to provide another year of aid for $13000000.00 syrian refugees they need full support and of course proper funding is crucial today germany is therefore making its largest leche in the last 4 years 1738000000 euros and the donors want to offer money for emergency aid not reconstruction to avoid supporting

the assad regime the regime office no future for the syrian people he makes no contribution to the stability and generation on lesley's changes it cannot be a partner to be a union the summit failed to reach its goal meaning they'll be fewer resources to people in need supposed. i'm joined now by justin yassine from the giga institute for middle east studies it's good to have you on the program this is the 5th time that this conference is taking place the donors missing their target this time what do you make of this it mean is insidious a failure well financially and of a failure at the end of the day however people are suffering people are. at risk of starvation really so every penny counts but another problem besides

a financial problem is that not only there was not enough money but there was not a consensus reached politically on how humanitarian goods are even going to be brought to the people specifically. the decisions of the security council yesterday on the border crossings from turkey to iran to syria and from iraq to syria and there is only one border crossing that is used from turkey to syria to go very nervous and there is nothing else so he even if there was enough money there is a shooting problem whether it comes to the infrastructure of humanitarian. the suffering there is albeit so how do you explain to the fact that they weren't able to raise as much money as they need is it because the potential donors just don't know with the money will be spent correctly. well that's one part of the problem because quite frankly most part of it is still ruled by hired to do the

show which is this ignited a terrorist organization by many countries and is a success are all qaeda. groups by many other islamic groups so of course there is this huge problem but on the other side even if other groups running for example the kurdish areas that don't get any help at all the problem is that the overall wealth is suffering under a pandemic and many countries are also having their own problems and having a different focus and finally i also think that quite frankly that. the average human has a specific attention span to a specific problem and i think politicians have to and i think a lot of politicians have a serious fatigue and that is a problem because the problem is not getting better it's just getting worse but i feel like there is not enough attention anymore to even raise that money and to think that it's necessary you know it's a very good points the fatigue with the syrian war and then compounded by the

fatigue with the pandemic dust on yasi for the in the international institute for middle east studies we appreciate your time in your insights tonight thank you thank you every day here in germany a man tries to kill his partner or his ex partner one in the 3 attempts is successful number so germany has the european union's highest number of reported similar sides murders of women or girls because of their gender domestic violence is on the rise in this country and activists say the criminal justice system is failing the victims we met with one woman who survived extreme violence at the hands of her partner. by their own. and during grief follow the latest case a femicide in berlin activists from the national work against them aside want to establish this location as

a place to denounce violence against women and girls but one of the activists is j. . she survived an act of extreme violence a few years ago her ex partner almost killed her. he locked me up for 10 hours and choked me until i was nearly unconscious he did this over and over again i was certain i was going to die and he said that he was going to kill me. it started when psychological abuse crept into the relationship slowly their interactions became more and more violent when jane tried to end the relationship the violence escalated in course jane was forced to justify why i should not try to end things soon earth. with the court process was almost more traumatizing than the incident itself or the entire relationship and i felt i was being accused as much as the perpetrator was. experts are calling for more

gender based training for the judiciary prosecutors some police who deal with cases of domestic violence. we need more measures for working with offenders we need nationwide interdisciplinary case management so we can better assess and react to the risk level of those affected in many femicide cases there were red flags instead of being prevented these situations escalation. these women are now engaged in the fight against gender based violence so they can spare others from what they have experienced themselves. gives me strength is empowers me and i also feel it's a kind of self-defense when we join together and go out on the streets we are making ourselves some time aside visible. but. jane and other activists are demanding that femicide it's no longer be treated as

so-called family dramas or isolated cases in the immigrant community 2 as with the case of homa until a mother and daughter who were murdered in berlin last year. are let's take a look at some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world a u.k. police watchdog says officers did not behave in a quote heavy handed manner when they broke up a vigil for sarah everard a london woman whose killing sparked a global well cry about women's safety images of officers tussling with women at the peaceful rally drew strong criticism and prompted an investigation. dello russo authorities have announced a criminal probe against top opposition candidate. sky go on charges of terrorism this follows a sweeping police crackdown on protesters demanding the resignation of president alexander lukashenko out of sky challenge to the nation's authoritarian leader in

a presidential vote back in august. in india hindus have been marking the start of spring with their festival of colors known as only most years millions of devoted cvs across the country throw colored powder at each other in huge outdoor celebrations but this is not like most years with corona virus infections in the country spiking at 56000 new cases a day and the death toll climbing officials have asked people to stay at home but they're not. health experts are worried these unchecked liberations could turn into . a super spreader of the us thanks. dancing singing and screaming. was thousands packed like sardines on the streets and inside ancient temples mosques play

a performative role it's exactly what public health officials desperately wanted to avoid. i made a pandemic that has claimed 860000 indian lives. the lives of them look it was the holiest the festival of joy we throw colors at each other we have such a good time together nobody gets upset all our problems are forgotten happy holy. not all the problems however holy is a celebration of winter giving way to spring for many though it was when hard facts gave way to blind faith. covert is gone it will come back after holy water for our it's a festival of joy and love we forget everything we forget that there is covert. it was a similar picture in towns and cities across the country as revelers threw caution and colored pigments to the wind. to look at your desk everyone is maintaining

social distancing we are trying to keep up with the traditions of our family but by keeping everyone safe. in the capital delhi police took a harder line banning public festivities altogether. you will be 1st people the festivals that are being celebrated now like last night's shabbat bharat and today's festival of holy these should not be celebrated in public instead it should be celebrated in homes in small gatherings so that the corona virus does not spread you would. i'm glad to say that these guidelines have been followed to a great extent and violations have been reporting company i had. the widespread rule breaking comes at a time of rising infection rates meaning indians may well face of prolonged hanging of a from holy celebrations that most of them never took part in. quick sports not bad

news for byron munich striker robert living belsky he will be out for around 4 weeks after injuring his knee in a world cup qualifier for poland this is a crushing blow to his campaign to break the bundesliga record of 40 goals in a season set by good miller 49 years ago the prolific hole has scored 35 times so far this season but will probably return with only 4 games remaining. there watching the news live from berlin after a short break i'll be back to take you through the day tonight the persisting perils of the pandemic will be right back.

the fight against the corona virus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing. what measures are being taken. what

does the latest research say. information and context. the coronavirus up to the code of special monday to friday w. hundreds often use in my clubs. where i come from raj your remains an import fountain soft transmitting mules and information and when i was young my country was drawing a news conference the war throbbing of people most people would gods of our own garage to see if. it was my job to to bring one off the lot of just god to say so i thought everyone in that column for missing toes a days. nothing husband prince of my own caught he had enjoyed 9

malls on so long even if not by us i was a twit and from. my choice to discard it because given the way told transmitted to the troops. when it was my gosh mom mitch and i were a lots to eat up. the 50. the united states leads the world in vaccinations against the corona virus but it may not be enough to stop a new surge of infections president biden is calling on states to reinstate mask mandates and pleading with people to remain vigilant here in europe the astra zeneca shot is becoming the disasters that it has saga possible side effects prompting germany to ban the vaccine for all.