this is how massive churches it's. pierce the clouds like skyscrapers are creating . contest of the cathedral. people on. a show coming up today radioactive water distance for. japan decides to release treated radioactive water. it's. damaged. but how safe are. muslims across. pakistan as it grapples with the danger so. young. which teaches the perfect poses for.

i'm british benedict welcome to news asia it's good to have you with us japan has decided to release more than a 1000000 tonnes of be direct to water into the pacific ocean the water which would be treated before being released it's got to be stored in tanks at the fukushima nuclear power plant that was damaged in the 2011 quake and tsunami the times we'd be at full capacity soon therefore the need to release water into the pacific the operation begins in 2 years but the decision is already facing a storm of protest. it's not more than a decade since an earthquake and tsunami devastated into each a nuclear power plant in fukushima but the country and the region will be living with the consequences for much longer. nearly $1300000.00

tons of contaminated water is stored in huge tanks at the daiichi plant enough to fill $500.00 a lympics size swimming pools be on your cost is around $1000000000.00 yen or 800000 euros and space is running hard. plant operator tepco plans to filter the contaminated water to remove isotopes leaving only tritium it will then dilute the water until tritium levels fall below regulator e limits before pumping it into the ocean tritium is considered relatively harmless because it does not emit enough energy to penetrate human skin japan's prime minister says the decision is an unavoidable part of safety decommissioning the nuclear plant and then. we will execute it only after ensuring the process is safe negative rumors must not stand in the way or extinguish the hopes of people in fukushima for recovery. you know.

what the decision has provoked an explosive reaction from some of japan's neighbors these korean environmental activists say the plan will torpedo efforts to restore the regional fishing industry. you want. the japanese government's decision is a sin against the world that their actions will contaminate everyone globally in the many years. you want or you want when japanese government's decision is not a scientific one but a political gamble and that the will is radioactive water is released it will be an irreversible disaster not only for the ecosystem but also for humans the japanese fishing industry itself is also firmly opposed to the plan the 1st release of water is due to take place in about 2 years time. and joining me now for more is are can he saw shows aki he's a moira most part of a think tanks independent investigation into the fukushima nuclear disaster of 27 he joins me now from tokyo welcome mr sure zaki the central question to you for

having being raised here is that of sea 50 is it safe to release trying to grow direct of water into the or from. there is clear scientific consensus among the scientists that the release of waste water is safe and will not bring harm to human health it is important to note that the wastewater role before being released go through a process called else which is stands for advanced liquid processing system which basically removes all the radioactive elements except for a substance called treaty which will then be day routed to safety levels the i.a.e.a. also in dorset is the safety of this wastewater and also mentions that similar process sees are taken at other nuclear plants around the world then why are people so concerned. i think that an important point there is still

a certain level of concern japanese public about the safety of this issue i think there is a unfortunate element of a spiral of mistrust behind the most opposed are the fishermen the local fishermen who are concerned that the general public will not trust their government explanation about safety but unfortunately the fishermen's opposition then feeds into the public's fear that something dangerous might be released into the ocean. aristotle once mentioned that persuasion takes logo's pay those then if those but scientific evidence alone will not be enough to persuade the public so what i was talking advise the japanese government in this situation which clearly appears to have some sort of a communication issue if i can prevent. the there is still

2 years before the absolute release stops the japanese government needs to continue to work on showing compassion towards those who will be affected and earning the trust of the public so that people will listen and understand is scientific explanation let's just say for a moment or ministers argue that the government chooses not to release the treated water into the pacific what is the alternative. there are several alternatives that have been considered in the process including vaporizing some of the what but other than that the government will need to continue building tanks for ever which is not a sustainable solution now this is all part of the process to ultimately decommission the fukushima nuclear power plant he was on the idea of how long a period we are looking for all that to happen we are looking at

a very long period the release of the wastewater itself is a plan to extend over several decades so this will be a long and patient process that will need to take place but it is also a reflection of the safety measures that the japanese government is trying to ensure to implement during the process right relieving them of the time being are you so sure as i can speak to us from tokyo thank you. thank you. today marks the start of the holy month of ramadan which means the prayers fostering and feasting across many parts of the world in pakistan there's the impressions come in the midst of a whopping 3rd wave of corn about us infections authorities in physics have asked people to exercise caution but that can be hard to do when it comes to the scale of the celebrations. after well over a year enduring the strain of the coronavirus the locals are almost accustomed to the relative stillness of the slow horse street for the 2nd ramadan running it's

usually bustling restaurants opposite a major mosque are closed blame the pandemic and a 3rd spike uncovered 1000 cases here this vital part of the pakistani qana me has been shot in the country's 3rd major lockdown. since the cove in 1000 pandemic broke out there have been tight restrictions on the lifestyle of an ordinary person has been badly affected the food industry was hit especially hard bread maker who's been working on a daily basis what does he do if he has no work. bread and sweet bread makers not tied to the closed restaurants and cafes are still working the other side of the food industry sees date sellers too still selling dates but not many. this is usually the peak time for trading in fruit and vegetables but both buyers and sellers are complaining of really high prices. not just of

a bottle they yell had the coronavirus pandemic laborers daily wages are suffering their income is low. they can't buy highly priced fruits 6. i'd say that prices should be affordable for every ordinary person. and everyone can buy fruits during the holy month of ramadan. apply on them than a lot of. mosques like this one in caracas are almost continually swept for ramadan clerics are urging the faithful to follow tradition and safety protocols from sunrise to sundown and from sundown to sunrise. the holy month and muslims offer prayers and fast and expend all time for prayers and ramadan greetings. and i ask everyone to follow all safety procedures in this time of the pandemic. play the sweet penny dessert will be a feature when ramadan ends at sundown i may 12th with the celebration eed. the

pandemic and its effects however will linger for months after. how to smile where to place a hand and which direction to face young vietnamese or for media users or snapping up a popular wences course on posing for the perfect forto in communist vietnam where 70 percent of the population is under $35.00 the classes are especially popular with young women. turning it on for the camera. these young women are finding out what it takes to stand out on social media. influencer pam little league is the driving force behind the classes in hanoi she's amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on instagram and ticked up and now she's teaching others her most postable poses. in my course there are people who want to learn posing to help with their jobs. they want confidence and

to improve their soft skills such as how to walk properly or how to communicate better with other people. overall. least social media profile has helped direct tracked around 500 students. they include young professionals eager to project an image of success. as someone who has to stand in front of many people these course will make me more confident in front of the camera. and i can communicate better from my work. with. lessons also give general photography tips from major social media platforms. facebook has more than 53000000 users in viet nam and it's become an important tool for small businesses. to me.

come up with having beautiful photos is crucial for my give store business. because they generate more likes and comments from my friends my customers and people who are interested in the products that i sell. and i hope my images will simply be more professional. outside in this increasingly online economy a simple snapshot on a smartphone can be a make or break skill. for these young vietnamese it all begins with the heart of the pose. that's it for today there's a post more of our website. and today is officially the start of the song clown festival in thailand. streets and rowdy water fights but those events are. recent. moves of toys out observing a more subdued holiday we leave you with that in the future moral.

of. the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and contacts the coronavirus update coming. on t. w. . bush. until i was robbed of my dignity 77 percent takes on water slavery shining a light on the fate of many nigerian women. obscene women who wear

trade suffer on saucepans of course or to show their stories told to punch you force me interesting stories and excretion edition of the 77 percent. 17 on you. the u.s. says vaccine program is the envy of much of the world with over 3000000 people getting the jab every day. but the virus continues to spread quickly. states like michigan are especially hard hit causing some to call for tough medicine. the answer is. down to go back to our basics to go back to where we were last spring last summer and to shut things down with 70000 new infections each day

vaccines alone might not be enough to turn the tide in the find against covert 19. no other country in the world has been hit harder by the corona virus the united states has had the most confirmed cases and deaths in the world and despite its unprecedented vaccination program those numbers are still rising many people have grown weary of lockdown and with warming weather many states have lifted restrictions facing the threat of a 4th wave president joe biden's administration is doubling down to back the nation as the key to ending the pandemic but local outbreaks threaten to do that strategy . john brooks joins us from the c.d.c. the centers for disease control and prevention how would you say the u.s. is coming along there's been a change in leadership a change in the weather but has there been progress in the fight against covert. well i think there has been steady progress in the fight against cove even since we

began and this is despite 3 waves including a really unprecedented 3rd wave over the holiday season but we're coming down off the back of that wave right now and really getting the numbers down quickly we're not succeeding yet i mean we're making incredible progress but the number of new infections we're seeing in this country remains about what it was during our 2nd wave last summer so what about 50000 new infections a day and 525021000 deaths a day by the numbers of murder. of promise they when you take a look at who's been inoculated a 3rd of the population has got at least one jap that's over 120000000 americans but with the focus on getting people vaccinated what about you restrictions on the economy because there's a new wave of coronavirus cases as you mentioned and hospitals are getting crowded . that's right and this you know we want to reserve using those really most

difficult decisions of shutting down the economy when we have to apply them but it's becoming apparent that we may be at a place where in some jurisdictions certain states it may be time to sort of shut down a little bit to gain control over this virus i mean we're in a big race right now all right we are racing against the virus with vaccine and we've got to get the vaccine out as soon as possible we're asking people to hold on a little bit longer we know it's frustrating it's been a rough year people want to get back to the normal life they enjoyed before but we're not done with this race we're not done with the battle we're going to have to hang on to we can really get vaccinations out but joan is that message getting through just state officials because in michigan state health director says the government's focusing on getting more people back to native rather than imposing new restrictions on the economy. well it would be wonderful if vaccination took effect immediately but you know it takes a couple of weeks for you to be to benefit from vaccination with the beyond tech

vaccine is $21.00 days between doses plus another 14 days until you're fully covered but they're seeing a problem right now and to deal with the problem right now you need to cut off the chain to transmission with whatever you have at your disposal and unfortunately at this time the best needs for that would be slowing down on the reopening of society there so which states would you say are getting it right which are getting it wrong because again despite all those vaccinations the 7 day case 48100000 people is it 515 in michigan california is only 50. that's right and it's interesting it's also very low in i believe states like texas and florida where one might have expected you know that it would be higher so where we don't understand exactly why the rates are different in different states it's probably some combination of the fact that some states have got more vaccine out they have more social distancing measures still in place the government and political opinion

is aligned with public health so we're all singing from the same songbook we say right that we're all working together and not against each other what about a 3rd immunity is there going to be a stage where the u.s. will reach that. yeah i mean i have an infectious disease doctor i've been working in this area for 30 years and i'm certain that we will reach herd immunity i just don't know what that number is we'll know it when we get there because there will be a sustained decline and then leveling off of new infections and that will be the point when there been enough people vaccinated as well unfortunately as people who've recovered from illness that the virus can't find anywhere else to go and that also depends upon whether or not the virus manages to mutate in a direction that's absolutely right we're watching that very carefully i mean these mutations concert these variants they're called really concern us a lot and vigilance really matters when viruses vary so we've put in

oh i'm sorry go ahead though that what we're going to say. i think we put into place a very very. large national effort to routinely screen a large number of these viruses down a model sure for variants and to identify those mutations which either make the virus more transmissible may increase the severity or undercuts some of the activity of drugs that we use against the virus ok on on that very topic i wanted to just mention some americans are already getting a 3rd doze which will be used to some people around the world that they're taking part in a study of updated versions of the ct of virus vaccines and they've been tweaked to tackle mutations of the virus a variant this covered in britain just months ago is already the most common version of the corona virus circulating in the united states current vaccines off a strong protection against these mutations but researches want to be ready to respond to new threats that emerge of course that study is being run by the

national institute of health and emory university in atlanta i believe john which is where you'll based these sorts of tweaks can be achieved in a matter of weeks it's the regulators that hold back the process by months can and should that be changed. well i think they'll be a lot of urgency to find a pathway forward where we can make these changes these and adopt these regulatory changes as rapidly as we possibly can while of course maintaining the safety of the public will be receiving these vaccines you know we have annual flu vaccination now in that case every year the world health organization and other public health organizations around the world look ahead as to what may be coming but we have a different situation now we have these m.r. in a vaccines from beyond ecan moderna and other companies that you can custom create

the vaccine with m r n a relatively quickly and then it takes probably weeks to a few months to get that into production i believe that given the experience of this pandemic we're going to hopefully see regulators moving just as quickly with us. that would be nice to go on. ok can you can you can the is there is there anything else that you can leave us with. gives us some sort of hope in his private. well i'll just say this i mean our food and drug administration is the organization in charge of these regulations and they say they have experienced this pandemic just like we have in our agency which is in charge of things related to prevention and i think that there is a strong desire to move forward into this future in a way that we can keep the public safe but respond more fleetly we've had some bad experiences where we weren't able to respond as quickly as we'd like and is clear that that's going to be an important thing in the future both of they thank you

very much for joining us today it's my pleasure. in another setback the united states has recommended putting the johnson and johnson vaccine on hold it's investigating a potential link between the jab and blood clots nearly 7000000 people have received the single dose vaccine in the u.s. clotting was reported in 6 women in the days after vaccination several countries have also restricted the astra zeneca short of a closing fee is. over to outsides correspondent there are billions who has an interesting view a question about the vaccine and hospitalizations. how come people hospitalized with covered 1000 don't get the vaccine couldn't it save their lives no although ongoing research into what are called therapeutic back scenes is fascinating the approved proven vaccines are traditional and in the sense that they aren't therapies if you already have coke at 19 there is

a measure to prevent you from contracting it in the 1st place or at least ensuring that if you do get the disease it will be a milder case and you won't end up in the hospital the reason the pandemic went global so fast and so on so quickly out of control is because sars could be too was a novel pathogen that no one had been exposed to before a state that experts call being immunologically naïve the vaccines now in use basically teach your body that there's a bad bug out there that looks like this so that if it shows up in your nose or throat your immune system is is for warms and can jump on it quickly but just like it takes time for your immune system to respond if you're infected for real it also takes time to ramp up in a munich response to the fake infection that a vaccine simulates a couple of weeks give or take

a few days depending on the back saying so so giving someone who has a severe case of the disease a vaccine won't help and could likely do harm that's why trusted health care authorities like the centers for disease control recommend that if you have covert 19 me need to wait a while after your symptoms have completely subside. it'd be for you even began to consider getting vaccinated. finally surging coronavirus cases in many parts of the world a row shadowing the start of ramadan south asia's nations of battling a spiraling outbreak europe has passed a 1000000 deaths the muslim holy month is a time of avoiding food and drink during the day and coming together for feasts at night both the challenge during the pandemic indonesia has the world's biggest muslim population of people who've been attending socially distance services did

most its islamic body now says covert vaccinations did not violate the fost in a permissible under the religious law a relief for the government which has been counting on a vaccine drive to tackle the largest number of infections and deaths in southeast asia. thanks for watching stay safe and see you again soon.

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the but . this is it we lose lives for a role in rising tensions as kiev and moscow trade blamed for a worsening situation world leaders are condemning a build up of russian troops along the border with ukraine fears are growing that he 7 a year conflict between the 2 nations could flare up again also coming up pushed to the limit more than 3000000 infections in some hospitals capacity as covert means infections soar in germany the federal government says new measures are needed to bring the crisis under control a mandatory emergency to bring across the country is needed and just

a new wave of unrest in the us city of minneapolis demonstrators to fire curfew for the 2nd night to protest against the killing by police of another young black man an officer alleged to have fired the fatal shot says they mistook their gun for a taser. on leyla iraq a very warm welcome to world leaders are condemning russia's most recent military activity in and around ukraine the g. 7 a group of advanced nations says it is deeply concerned by what it calls russian provocations ukraine accuses moscow was sending thousands of troops to its eastern border and the crimean peninsula akiva moscow have traded blame over the worsening situation

in the dom basque region cranium troops fought pro russian separatists says 2014 clashes in the region have become more frequent and there are fears that the unresolved conflict between the 2 sides could flare up again. a russian military camp set up suddenly close to russia's border with ukraine witnesses have reported seeing rows of tanks in the area and artillery being moved by train and leaders in europe and the us are trying to find out what. russia is not denying the troop movements but says it's not threatening anyone. in spite of the it's like receiving the questions are being asked what is it that the russian federation is doing on the border with ukraine got the answer is very simple we live there it is our country some kremlin figures have gone further setting out conditions for a possible russian intervention against its neighbor which are beginning of

military actions is the beginning of the end of ukraine. the build up seems to be russia's biggest along the ukrainian border in 7 years. but that was when fighting between pro russian separatists and ukrainian troops 1st erupted in ukraine's east more than 14000 people have since died in that conflict which has yet to be a result. ukraine's president below dimmers alinsky recently visited frontline troops he's called on nato to put his country on a pathway to join the military bloc something moscow has called an acceptable. meanwhile washington is sending warships to the region and says it's closely watching the situation well 1st let me say we are concerned as i've said in the past but we've been of course watching it over the course of the weekend about the

increasing aggression of russian forces on the border secretary blinken and secretary austin are in brussels this week meeting with their nato partners and we will of course i'm sure this will be a topic of discussion the coming week could well decide whether the tensions in ukraine escalate further into the biden administration's 1st international crisis. or if a moral let's cross over now to brussels or to the nato h.q. or d.w. where teri schultz is reporting on this story terry we understand that the nato secretary general and the ukrainian foreign minister have published or issued a joint statement so what can you tell us about that. that's right the nato ukraine commission met in emergency session earlier today convened by ukraine to discuss the situation and after that secretary-general stoltenberg said that the build up

on the ukrainian border was unexplained and justifiable and deeply concerning for his part the ukrainian foreign minister said that if the kremlin dared to push this into open conflict it would be the one to lose and he warned nato allies that his country needed more backup to make sure that's the case more military equipment more more training and more political support now says then nato has announced that it will hold a joint foreign and defense ministers meeting by video tomorrow to discuss the situation so foreign minister cleaver should feel like he's getting more support from nato allies including the united states secretary of state blinken met personally with him this afternoon here in brussels says the foreign minister of ukraine should get the feeling that he's getting more support of nato but just how much support. are there really fears that an invasion by russian troops is imminent and what is nato prepared to do about that. well most assessments i really don't actually believe that russia is planning to invade right now they read

everything from the exact military forces that are deployed to this the state of the ground it's too mushy right now for for tanks to get in all of these signs point to there not being an immediate invasion but we're sure wants to do is to keep crain destabilized and it's doing a good job of that let's remember that while now while ukraine wants to be a nato member it isn't and so nato does not have to go to its defense should russia invade again we should also remember that in 2014 nobody expected russia to invade either and it did seize a part of ukraine crimea and it does support these separatists in in the eastern part of ukraine so russia has already invaded and nobody wants to allow that to happen again and very briefly on another topic this very important for us here in germany we understand that u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin announced that the u.s. will not be pulling out troops from germany as the previous administration had

threatened welcome news that. definitely will be welcome news that nato remember this was such a surprising announcement trump made it without any consultation with nato or the german government or the governments where he said he was going to send those 12000 troops he was going to pull out of germany so after that i know from follow up reporting there was no move made on the military's part to actually prepare for this transfer out of germany so it won't be so surprising that the biden ministration has called that off but it will definitely be welcome along with the largely symbolic but still important deployment of 500 more troops to germany. reporting as ever thank you. while meanwhile germany is struggling to cope with a surge of covert 1000 infections despite being in a soft lockdown for 5 months the number of cases is going up and hospital say they are pushed to the limit while today the camp here in berlin agreed to approve new

national measures to try and bring down infection rates on measures require it change in the law to allow what is being called an emergency brake to be imposed in all parts of the country if certain conditions are met that is. the new a law would oblige all regions to implement the emergency brake if there are more than $100.00 cases per 100000 people in a 7 day period if that happens a curfew between the hours of 9 pm and 5 pm with then be imposed and all non-essential shops would be closed. while the chancellor angela merkel welcome to call and has asked that urgently a decision should be made by the government. well then it does beg the water to improve the situation and to slow down the 3rd wave to break it and turn it around

the measures implemented thus far by the state and regions don't go far enough our response to the pandemic must be more stringent and consequential consequent. now for more on this i'm joined by chief political editor mikaela is at the border start for you good to see you and be killer 1st of all explain to us contextualize for us why is this national approach that the chancellor has been pushing for for weeks now why is it so controversial still. well because what she said stringent and consequential is what the action by those 16 federal states was not in the past what is now being replaced is what became almost every 2 weeks couple of weeks gathering between now going back on the 16th state premiers agreeing on paper what the next steps would be then everybody going back into their regional capitals and doing pretty much whatever they like depending on what the public

pressure there was now this law could see an end to that certainly once germany reaches every region reaches that incidence rate of $100.00 infections per 100000 people within the space of 7 days that's the magic number that had circulated before but it would effectively mean that there would be an automatic emergency brake automatic measures would come into the place it would be less debate and more action and once that great reaches $200.00 schools would also have to close no more debate about which we've seen in recent months so in your assessment is the chancellor likely to rally enough people around her plan and get that majority to get that nationwide approach approved. it looks like she'll get it but not as fast as she hopes we're expecting this to take at least another week in german parliament and that week many experts warn it is simply too long here.

care facilities are filling up and that was also a threshold that the german chancellor sets in the posture minded everybody today that once much and see beds intensive care beds were full then everybody had waited too long then this battle is lost and the nearing that crucial point that germany is struggling to contain the 3rd wave but they also have another issue the most powerful party in jeremy's still struggling to pick the successor as for their candidate chancellor where we at with that one. absolutely gathered behind me is the german press here eager to hear something seeping out from a meeting of m.p.'s of under michael c.d.u. conservative party and the bavarian sea is you sister party it's. a city one could say to throw his hat into the ring eventually and to challenge the c.d.u.

state premier of north rhine-westphalia who is seen almost as a given but alas it's problem is that michael souter is riding high in the opinion polls and that appears to really have an effect so it's very much a high noon moment here in berlin with everybody eager to see who will be on that ticket replacing the name of uncle americal in the conservative ticket when it comes to those general elections in september there might well be a move to new brewing behind me used to burn behind the killer curtain or thank you so very much reporting from the our chief political editor thank you as always. now we shift our attention to france which is opening more than $100.00 mass vaccination centers as the country dramatically scaled up its vaccination campaign while the new facilities will make it possible now to deliver a further 1000000 shots a week at a time that the and section numbers in france are among the highest in europe.

places like these are the new beacon of hope for the french started the sauce just north of paris is one of more than 100 new huge vaccinations and just across the country all have escalated on a combined effect this is the mega operation we are now able to administer mass vaccinations in this center we will inoculate about $10000.00 people per week from neatly organized be a part of a national effort to end this crisis. people here are relieved they're finally getting help the stadium is located in france's most destitute departments and sundanese which has also been hit hardest by the epidemic with about 800 new infections per 100000 inhabitants each week. i really hope to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel it's what we need things have been

very worrying for a year now and although we are trying to make an effort and stay reasonable it's getting very difficult to live without social contacts within the department of sense and me is very badly affected by the epidemic the numbers keep skyrocketing it's high time they do this if it's not already too late. a faster vaccination campaign is key to the country's latest strategy to fight cope with 19 the government just decreed a 3rd nationwide lockdown but it's only a 4 week lockdown light and this time people are even told to spend more time outside this fire on a just is not sure that'll be enough to bring the epidemic under control. by song book protest. we will need to vaccinate 10 percent of the french population with 2 jabs for the spread of the virus to start slowing down.

and our infection numbers are very high as we didn't impose a strict lockdown earlier this year like other countries with that said a full week lockdown is one of the highest infection rates in western europe and doctors are warning that the number of intensive care patients will be higher than during the 1st and so far strongest coated 19 wave. lisa lisa reporting there for more on this topic let's speak to catherine hill and epidemiologist at as to to do stuff we'll see in paris the largest cancer hospital in strand said dr thank you so much for giving us a some of your time.