this is news live from berlin a court in hong kong convicts 7 pro-democracy figures including media tycoon jim you lie the group was found guilty of an authorised assembly during these protests and 2019 will anyone in hong kong now dare to speak up for democracy we will ask ask activists in exile nathan law. also coming up french president emmanuel micron borders the country into its 3rd national lockdown effective saturday and other

ways of coping 19 infections threatens to overwhelm hospitals plus president biden unveiling a 2 trillion dollar infrastructure overhaul for the united states but how does he plan to pay for the massive spending package and europe's broken migration policy asylum seekers are spending years of camps in greece will ask a german parliament member l.t.e. you can fix the disaster i did store staff. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program. accorded hong kong has convicted 7 prominent pro-democracy activists and politicians for their role in anti-government protests in 20192 other defendants have previously pleaded guilty now these defendants they included the man known as hong kong's a father of democracy. martin lee he is the 82 year old founder of the democratic

party also 73 year old media tycoon jimmy lie he's one of the most outspoken critics of the current administration and margaret a 73 year old former lawmaker nearly every leading voice of opposition in hong kong is now in jail on trial or in exile. kong met up with activists lead to kyung before the verdict for a look at the decades long democracy struggle against beijing. a small flat in downtown home cold weather woes only will see i'm dedicated to the 18 i tell them in krakow it's located to minutes very repression in beijing 32 years ago changed the course of many people in china and hong kong including leach again i was there during the during for the massacre and i was the pain propre days after my relieve pressure to hong kong i crashed and i would spend my life time by people who are

mockeries in china and so that those who took a prize were not being very. streeter legion again is facing a different fate critics say and i don't massive cracknell being carried out by the chain this time one of those the liberal and democratic city hong kong in the wake of anti-government protest here 8 this was charged for organizing and attending and authorizes and that's really it was over a 1000000 people took part was one of the few without violence questions every one of the defendants are high profile figures apart from media tycoon shimmy ally or a former lawmaker icons of the opposition movement like martin lee lewis know this father of 2 marcus issue of the charges carries a maximum 5 year jail term. was these cases just the tip of the iceberg with over 10000 i do suggested. is the 1st among the 9 charges for

which he's on trial beijing's recently imposed sweeping national security law and his overhaul of the city's electrode system intensify the fear we should all denies hong kong's tenement morning vigil every year calling for an end to china's one party movement taking place and that to take to make him a prime target and beijing security this year he will likely be absent for the very 1st time in this era in a way a big part of the struggle now i would call. by saying that this is already. a blessing for me i would only have to go to jail after 40 years of activism in hong kong. but i'm ready to pay the price and ready to face it having witnessed hong kong's decades long struggle the 64 year old activist is not optimistic but he believes that his successors will continue to fight for democracy and today finally

you've reached a call. and for more on this let's bring in nathan large pro-democracy activists from. kong and former student leader joining us from london where he is in exile nathan thanks for joining us on the program today you know those who have been convicted they are veterans of the pro-democracy movement what is your reaction to these verdicts and what do you think it means for them. so these cases just one of the case in such a massive corruption. was already the cause of the problem and it's this being arrested under the national security law these 70 tons of stole my friends and great assets there's cultural groups a lot of calls out the classic for the money and this is definitely political persecution that they are going to think that the 1st use of assemblies ok so you call it a political persecution as you mentioned this is just one of rather

a few of several cases that are before the court system i'd like to ask you about the others that are as well for example the 47 pro-democracy politicians and activists who have been charged with subversion under the new security law for participating in an election primary that prosecutors say was part of a plan to subvert the government do you think they will also be convicted. well we have to understand the nature of the national security court the government can pick the judge there is no jury available and the government could choose to conduct the hearing with so any presence of the public so if you look into the condition of that and you look into the world in this of the national security law which is written really effectively and there is literally a large room for interpretation of by the church and by the courts so i think the

possibility of them being kept that is actually quite high so i think this is another example of how to care for and uses the national security law to watch some this isn't force and the war should continue to pay attention to it given that they then put it into the big picture for us what does it mean for the pro-democracy movement what does it mean for the legal system. so for now that the pro-democracy movement has stepped into a lot types it's like we're stepping into a winter storm that every one of us has to face it. possible. though but if someone is still persisting they will receive serious repercussion but don't think that will kill all the determination of those fighting for democracy saying many of us have already been joe as see it as one of a cost that will to pay on the role of struck oh so i think many of them actually

have to mental preparation for that. rule of law and home callie's all call home on the national security law and people's freedom of expression and freedom of association being all and i'll eat it so i think that is a sad reality of all these 7 convictions that we've seen today they come amid efforts by china to only allow patriots to be part of the legislature you know beijing in these probation lawmakers for their part they say that the pro-democracy camp has been disruptive on the streets disruptive in the legislature where things could no longer get done how do you respond to that. the pursuit for the morrissey's completely legitimate in one giant a set of well calls have that back from the british government to the chinese government its chinese cover and promised home people that we will gradually get

our democracy and it should have happened. 5 to 10 yes ago so for now i think beijing has always been trying to. use these excuse to conceal the fact that their break a promise became to national treaty and they deprive a whole compete vote from the other just in their rights and their using legal persecution to silence us once again so i think it is important that the well understands that the rationale for the protest behind all the people and also. seeing these all these persecution and other wave over us a life from china and try to hold them accountable thank you so much for joining us nathan la pro-democracy activists from hong kong on her student leader on this day where as we have mentioned a court in hong kong has convicted 7 prominent pro-democracy democracy activists nathan thank you for sharing your view. here what's going to look

at some other stories making headlines around the world the un special envoy for me on maher has you warned of the possible civil war in the country following clashes between the army and ethnic minority insurgents christine sure aigner. burner expressed concerns over the imminent bloodbath in the country the country condemned and condemned the arrest of pro-democracy protesters. united nations is warning of a humanitarian crisis in mozambique in the wake of a militant attack hundreds of people are still trying to flee the town of palma after the so-called islamic state gained control of the northern town last week. and france will close down schools for 3 weeks to fight a rapids ride in the coronavirus cases president emanuel micron warning the country that it risks a losing control of the pandemic if actions not taken france's parliament is

currently debating the new measures is include a nationwide curfew and a one month ban on domestic travel the infection rate is surging in france with almost $60000.00 new cases reported in the past day. intensive care units at hospitals all over france are running out of free bets at this medical center an hour north of paris their i.c.u. unit is full and they've been forced to at temporary beds to cope. nor sort of are going to feel this wave hitting us hard and we're hanging on people need to be explained that they should not gather we had a mother and her son die at the same time in 2 different intensive care ohm's all because of family gathering it's unbearable for us it's a very difficult situation to manage. spring weather has drawn people on to the

streets despite the dramatic surge of covert 1000 cases images like these let medical experts to demand stricter measures and the government responded as of saturday and nationwide curfew will be reimposed schools and non-essential shops will close. the. president emanuel mccall pleaded for cooperation. all the more the coming months each one of us must make an extra effort and this is what i ask of us collectively this evening. mccann also promised to increase the number of i.c.u. beds from the current 7000 to more than 10000 and to speed up the sluggish vaccination program across the country. contrary to his european neighbors mcconnell didn't tighten restrictions when numbers dramatically increased in january. many people here in france are now angry that he didn't take stricter

measures because now obviously the weather is getting better and everybody feels like you know having more freedom and they wouldn't have minded so much to stay at home for 2 months for the last 2 months when it was raining really so many people here fear that this is not enough the latest lockdown will be in place for at least a month mark or hopes to reopen some cultural venue's even restaurants and cafes by mid may. be a correspondent lisa lewis is standing by in paris lisa the french parliament meeting right now walk us through the agenda well absolutely well the government is in parliament prime minister stakes has presented the measures that president mark or announced last night on television and there will be a vote later on but opposition politicians have already said that they would either walk out or vote against the measures given that it is a symbolic they the president has announced the measures before the vote in

parliament and they're not happy about that mccrone also saying that measures will last a month and that there is quote a light at the end of the tunnel are people buying not. well people are hoping that this is true the majority of the french according to polls are in favor of the measures taken last night but many here fear that this is too little too late and intensive doctors i've been talking to you over the past few days have told me that the peak of this wave will actually be higher than the peak of the 1st wave in the spring 2020 and already in the paris region intensive care units at 130 percent of capacity and then more patients to come so people here fear that this might be not enough and that in a few weeks' time maybe there will be more stricter measures to come especially as the government has now said that people you know are allowed to walk outside to you

know to meet up to 2 breeds because the government says that studies show that the risk to get infected outside is very low but they're really banking on people's responsibility and that is a risky bet lisa a lot of talk and speculation linking the astra zeneca vaccine to possible blood clots what do people in france make of that well as in other european countries skepticism of the asters anika vaccine is high 60 percent of the french are really skeptical of that vaccine but however if you look at when you look at the figures of the vaccination campaign over the past few days and weeks actually it has better sped up quite a bit at this very moment in time 8500000 people here in the country have received a 1st jab and over the past few days the speed of the vaccination campaign was at 200 or 300008 day that's quite fast the government said has said that they will

keep on going like that and it looks like for now at least the skepticism of the astra zeneca jap hasn't had an impact on the speed of the vaccination campaign just yet lisa lewis in paris thank you. meantime in germany there is widespread concern that a complete lockdown will also be necessary to get on top of rising coated 1000 infections medical authorities say that hospital's intensive care facilities are coming under increasing pressure the leader of chancellor angela merkel c.d.u. party says political leaders will be using the easter holiday period to think about further measures and he appealed to germans to take current restrictions more seriously. the feeling across the country is not one where i think everyone is clear about how serious the situation is we have to use these 123 weeks

that are still ahead of us before we get the vaccination numbers up to reduce contacts if possible not travel anywhere over easter no family visits just as it was at christmas the proxy. of breaking political correspondent julia cell delhi julie how are the infections right now the situation isn't looking great in germany . national health agency has registered over 23000 cases in the last 24 hours and those are numbers that we hadn't seen since january there's been a steady rise in coven 1000 cases since mid february they're affecting all age groups but also especially children and the youth we also see an increase of people having to be treated in intensive care units and the 117 variant that was 1st discovered in the u.k. is now makes up 90 percent of over 1000 cases the text in the countries and that

makes it even more dangerous and more risky for the for the covert 1000 to spread even further there was a lot of controversy about the prospect of a full lockdown this easter weekend where do things stand right now when it comes to the prospect of a lockdown now going forward. there has been growing disagreement between the federal government led by chancellor angela merkel and the leaders of germany's states and there has not really been a common solution found among these agents the federal government with i'm going to merkel seems to be more in favor of tougher restrictions more measures while some state premiers and particularly are more lax or more hesitant to implement stricter rules and at the moment of the chancellor sort of taken some time to think and tried to maybe find a way where she can bypass the state leader is a bit more and try to implement more restrictions herself julia south delhi in

berlin thank you. u.s. president joe biden has set out plans for a 2 trillion dollar program of infrastructure spending he's called it a once in a generation investment that will create millions of jobs while giving roads utilities an american industry a badly needed upgrade biden is betting that the massive stimulus package will help the country recover from the economic blows of the pandemic but his program faces tough opposition. road builders in the u.s. will soon have plenty of work to do infrastructure in the world's largest economy is in poor condition across the board. roads power or water to me and many key industries have long since moved abroad. with his 2 trillion dollars package u.s. president joe biden wants to give the entire country a make over like you are proposing

a plan for the nation the word work not just rewards well the bills of fur are coming to give everybody a chance to see who's going to create the strongest most resilient you know rate of a con to be in the world. his administration plans on modernizing 32000 kilometers of road while repairing thousands of bridges. half a 1000000 new charging stations will be built to accommodate the ever growing number of electric vehicles biden also wants to bring industries such as chip production back to the united states today computer chips are still mostly produced in asia. the whole project is expected to take 8 years to complete some of the funding will come from a corporate tax hike from 21 to 28 percent biden supporters say the program will create millions of well paid jobs and strengthen america's ability to compete with

china. yes but republicans are congress are already voicing opposition especially towards the corporate tax increase i know it's biden's predecessor slashed the rates by 14 percentage points to their current level. well europe has come under renewed criticism over its treatment of migrants for years thousands of asylum seekers have been living in inhumane conditions in grace 5 greek islands near the turkish coast have become known as hotspots where refugees live in overcrowded unsanitary conditions more than a 3rd are children mostly without access to education of the e.u. says that turkey should take them in as part of a deal waged with 5 years ago but many experts say that deal is a human rights disaster it is max and a reports on the situation on the island of less posts. a prominent guest at the

e.u. is most notorious migration hotspots. e.u. commissioner you once on tour to muffle camp in a guarded convoy earlier this week journalists were given a rare opportunity to visit the nicer parts of the overcrowded facility scenes of women exercising in the spring some stuff we call christ these pictures from last winter when residents had to hold on to their tents well the sea flooded their homes we need djoko. from the democratic republic of congo he tells us he has been here for 16 months we are living like animals without documents i've had my asylum interview already but haven't heard anything since this is this feat we face. more than 13000 people are stuck in these hot spots in the north of gene islands as part of a system designed to help greece cope with high numbers of irregular arrivals as part of the e.u.'s 26000 migration deal with turkey greek authorities with e.u.

support have to examine whether each person arriving here has a right to asylum those whose claims are rejected must return to turkey and as long as asylum seekers don't have an answer they can't leave the islands critics claim this model is simply not working it creates a situation of deep injustice because people are kept in some cases for many years in the home. and as we've seen the conditions there. they're really not effective and if we look at the coach of order to report on the hotspots for instance they show that extremely expensive and not serving the original purposes of rock decision on case. instead of setting up appropriate infrastructure to deal with asylum cases in a swift manner 5 years on from when the deal was signed with or to use our operating emergency even you commissioner your own son agrees this system has to change i don't want to have. to have proper a section facilities but people should not stay for long and then. and relocation

system we need to you pierre nice migration issue and to stand by each other and not leave any member state or alone. the e.u. commission has proposed a new approach to asylum under which asylum applications would be processed within days at the blocks external borders but critics fear this might lead to a situation similar. who are perceived to be hotspots all over again. let's bring in francisco brandt a nurse he is a member of the german parliament and the green party's spokesperson for european policy welcome to the program and thank you for joining us we've just been witnessing there some of those terrible conditions for asylum seekers on lesbos for example in your view what do you think might have gone wrong with the hot spot approach everything everything has gone wrong it's terrible that we still

have these really really bad and i think spectacle conditions on the island asking european money going there it was sad to report it's not a question of adding money to it it's a political decision by the greek government to have terrible conditions on these islands because they still believe it will incite others not to come but we also have a you can countries you fusing to expect a distribution of those living on the islands right now for example the german government is accepting some but very few only in terror you know only when has been a crisis we still don't have any real system and it's high time to change that and in fact you've called for a more realistic approach a more coordinated european approach to asylum policy what exactly might that look like and is it realistic. i think it's important that we do establish centers where you people reject their people and you just to be done across to. our

side and that and we won't be able to do this at $27.00 i don't think it's realistic that i think that it will be realistic to start with a few to go ahead and start changing the system because the current one is not acceptable and that it's pressure on the greek government it needs pressure on you on some of the other even governments and i think you know as you say it's not realistic to try and 2nd we need a coalition of those who are not expecting any longer to have such conditions within the e.u. what war would you like to see from from european countries for example from germany i want my german governments to finally accept and make possible that those cities and states with danger and yet have said we are right to take on people to meet irons to get him back you know to so many many cities who say we're ready to do this and it's determined to try to run our men blocking this i don't understand it i just want mr siegel had to give just 3 and to save states

in germany i'm ready to accept them to help greece to help the citizens in need then we should really make this possible francisco bradner member of the german parliament to the green party spokesperson for european policy thank you. thank you . after next on day w. news it is conflict zone where my colleague interviews tree monkeys for not. moving. to new england.

entered the conflict zone the government of sri lanka has been strongly criticized the un human rights council which more limited raging situation in the country i mean greece marginalize ation minorities my guest this week is just not a column a year secretary just sri lanka's foreign ministry physically johnson is dumb enough to take the criticism seriously i'm still something about the conflict so for. the next w. . they want to get it into

a nameless mass of their bodies mere tools the history of the slave trade is africa's history it describes how the claim for power and profit plummeted and entire continent into chaos and violence. and it's rebellion or new frontiers of slavery was part of our series slings reroutes. 35. dollars. please. don't. shoot to be.

discovered. subscribe to. documentary to. see all these things well you don't know that you proud of living in a. presidential pardon. anyone doing something wrong the government of sri lanka has been strongly criticized that the un human rights council which warned of a deteriorating situation in the country the erosion of judicial independence and the increased marginalizing of minorities my guest this week is john a column by secretary to sri lanka's foreign ministry is there any chance until.